RAFAEL BENITEZ has backed his Liverpool players to arrest their slump in form and transform their season ahead of a make-or-break six days.

The Anfield outfit began a crucial week with a third successive defeat at the weekend when losing 1-0 at Sunderland.

Benitez’s side will look to avoid notching an unenviable landmark when they aim to kickstart their Champions League campaign at home to Lyon this evening.

Not since April 1987 have Liverpool lost four games in a row, when they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur, Wimbledon and Norwich City in the league and Arsenal in the Littlewoods Cup final.

Liverpool will be buoyed by the return to fitness of skipper Steven Gerrard, although top scorer Fernando Torres is again missing with a groin problem.

And with a blockbusting showdown against Manchester United to follow on Sunday, rather than dwell on the negatives, Benitez reckons the next few days offer Liverpool a chance to reinforce their credentials.

“I have some experience in difficult situations – all managers do – but at this time we have lost four games and people are talking about the quality, the depth of the squad, but the main thing is to be calm, work hard and find solutions to the problem,” said the Anfield manager.

“That is the only way in football. This week we have an opportunity to change everything. It can change everything for the positive.

“My obligation is to be positive because I think we have more quality than we are showing now. As soon as we play well twice, hopefully this week, people will start saying maybe I am right.”

Liverpool’s strength in depth was exposed at the Stadium of Light as a makeshift side slumped to a dismal defeat.

Benitez, though, has dismissed concerns over squad numbers and has been heartened by the response of his players on the training ground during the past two days.

“In the last two training sessions I was really pleased with the response of the players, and you could see that everyone was positive,” said the Spaniard. “Everyone knows what to do.