HAD any Liverpool fan been offered the chance of their team leading the Premier League and through to the last 16 of the Champions League in the first week of December, they’d have snatched it with both hands.

Yet given the reaction of some sections of the support at Anfield and over the airwaves to Monday night’s goalless draw at home to West Ham United, anyone listening would have presumed Rafael Benitez’s side had dropped into the relegation zone and not moved a point clear at the top.

Such is life at Liverpool right now, where the desperation for a first title in 19 years means any setback is greeted with the kind of over-reaction normally reserved for failed X-Factor contestants.

Certainly, Benitez will hope his players are more adept at coping with the weight of expectation than some of their supporters.

Anyone requiring a reality check need only see what position Liverpool were in 12 months ago.

In their 15th league game, Benitez’s side lost their unbeaten record at Reading to stay in fourth place, seven points behind leaders Arsenal.

The manager had played a weakened team at the Madejski ahead of a must-win Champions League decider in Marseille in which defeat would have most likely cost the Spaniard his job.

And an upbeat Jamie Carragher believes supporters must keep concentrating on the positives at present.

“When you play at home and you draw it’s two points lost, there’s no doubt about that,” he says. “It’s obvious we’re all disappointed we didn’t win.

I’m sure our fans will realise as well as anyone that we’re not playing well at the moment but we’ve gone top of the league.

“Chelsea are probably going through a little bit of a rough patch themselves over the last three or four games and that’s something that’s happening to us as well.