LIVERPOOL’S worries over not making the Champions League have hung over them like a dark cloud all winter.

But now it is starting to lift. And as the weather hopefully gets a bit brighter, so do the prospects of Rafael Benitez’s team holding on to the place in the top four they secured with victory over Everton in the Merseyside derby.

In fact, forget top four. Top three will become a genuine target with a good result at the Emirates tomorrow.

But let’s not get carried away. What is undeniable at the present moment is that Liverpool are well placed to finally get some momentum going in this stuttering season.

They proved that in the unbeaten run they have put together in the Premier League and in the way they have become so difficult to break down.

That’s the surest sign yet that things are finally starting to go right for Benitez.

His team is playing in exactly the way he likes his teams to – showing great resilience when they have been up against it.

A real Benitez trait that. It might be reverting to type, but it means that he is making the best out of what he has got available.

That is the very least you can ask for and all the punters want.

The derby was the perfect example. Everton will of course be miffed that they didn’t make the most of the extra man but the fact that the sending off of Kyrgiakos didn’t make much difference sums up how comfortable Liverpool were.

They stuck to the minimum Rafa requirement of keeping a clean sheet in the knowledge that they would get a chance to break the deadlock.

Terribly soft goal it might have been from Everton’s point of view but that’s what you sometimes get as a reward for staying organised.

It’s not free-flowing football, it’s not going to open teams up – but it’s getting results.

And when other team’s results are going for you, you know you’re in business.