DAVID MOYES must be seeing something the rest of us can’t. Because while he might think Liverpool are the favourites for fourth place, the race is so close it’s almost impossible to call.

In truth, the Everton manager knows this. He was just making one of those clever moves, designed to shift the pressure on to Liverpool and lift it from his own team.

But assessing who actually is in pole position is a much tougher task.

And I don’t really think you can do it until you see Liverpool come off from the run of games they have at the end of March and start of April.

Because either side of what could be a defining Merseyside derby, Rafael Benitez has to take his side to both Manchester United and Arsenal – monster!

Only then can you confidently say if Liverpool are better equipped than their city rivals to take fourth place.

Get good results in those games and it’s pretty much theirs. If they don’t they run the risk of blowing it completely.

But one thing that is in Benitez’s favour at the moment is that the ball has finally started rolling for them.

Against Middlesbrough Fernando Torres was gifted two of his goals and at Bolton on Sunday they were set on their way by Jaaskelainen’s bizarre mistake.

It’s things like that that go for you when you’re on a roll and three wins and a draw from their four league games over the past month proves that is exactly what they are on.

That run came straight off the back of a complete non-performance that led to defeat at West Ham – visitors to Anfield tomorrow.

I can’t see the same outcome as at Upton Park. Liverpool have to avoid the kind of headlines that blighted last week and has undermined their challenge for much of the season.

The only thing people should be saying when they look at them this week is ‘oh, they’ve won again’.

That goes for tomorrow and for Saturday against Newcastle. And given the aforementioned fixtures coming up, I see them both as must-win games.

Across Stanley Park, meanwhile, Everton can revel in the fact that Liverpool are under so much pressure to finish in the top four.

This time last year their place in it was secure so credit to Moyes for bringing about this situation.

Nobody expected them to finish fourth earlier in the season so in many ways he is right to remind everyone that the burden of expectation is on the red side of Merseyside.

All Everton need to concentrate on is keeping their fantastic run going. They proved with those massive wins last week against Manchester City and Portsmouth that they have mastered the oh-so-important art of killing off the teams in and around you.

And the way they have been going, the players should now be convinced that they can beat the top teams as well. It couldn’t be more finely balanced.

But it’s a great story and it perfectly tees up the last 10 games of the season – especially the derby at Anfield on March 30.

It’s great to get back to the days of my era in the mid-1980s when these matches always had the same thing riding on them for both clubs.

And you never know, we might even get a good game this time!

Mark Lawrenson was speaking to NICK SMITH