Benitez keen to see his side be more ruthless; LIVERPOOL/NON-LEAGUE/BOXING.

Byline: CHRIS BEESLEY

ALTHOUGH he's glad to keep picking up the points, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez admits that he'd prefer his team to win their Premier League matches more comfortably rather than have to keep coming from behind.

Liverpool are joint top of the table with Chelsea with 20 points from their first eight matches but unlike Luiz Felipe Scolari's slick outfit they have been unconvincing for long periods of games.

Benitez's side have come from behind in four of those eight games to win against Middlesbrough, Manchester United, Manchester City and now Wigan Athletic after Saturday's 3-2 success and the Spaniard, who joked that observers would have to "ask his doctor" about what he thought about their dramatic victories, concedes he'd like to be doing the business in a straightforward manner.

He said: "I don't like to do it this way. At the end if we have won then everyone will be happy but for the fans and everyone involved with us I think it's better to score and play well in the first half and enjoy the game but I'm not disappointed now.

"It's always very difficult after an international break.

We knew that Wigan were playing well and they were strong. We started with the right mentality because the warm-up was good but they started really well.

"Little by little we were improving but we conceded the goal and we needed to work harder again.

"For me, the team before the game was okay, it was ready but from the first minute we were a little surprised. They were very aggressive and very quick pressing so we needed to keep the ball but were giving it away too easily."

Benitez added: "For the first five minutes we were not playing well but in the City game we started really well.

If you watch the video, we had two good situations in attack in the first three minutes.

"At the end of the first half we were playing better but sometimes you make a mistake and everything changes."

Liverpool face their sternest test of the Premier League campaign to date next Sunday when they travel to Stamford Bridge for a top-of-the-table clash with Chelsea and Benitez acknowledges that it would be a tough ask of his side to recover from a slow start against Scolari's side.

He said: "Clearly Chelsea are a team that if they score it will be difficult to score against them but we were not conceding goals easy. We were making some mistakes after 20 minutes. Today we had another experience and maybe it can help."

The build-up to Wigan's visit to Anfield was dominated by reports that visiting striker Emile Heskey, whose contract at the JJB Stadium expires at the end of the season, was being lined-up for a return transfer to Liverpool in January.

The in-form England international, now 30, admitted that such a move would be "lovely" but a back injury prevented him from impressing his former fans on this occasion and on-loan team-mate Amr Zaki instead showed the Premier League's leading managers what he is capable of with a two-goal salvo in front of the Kop.

Afterwards, Benitez was asked whether he'd enquired about the highly-rated Egyptian's situation but he replied: "We were not thinking about Wigan players.

For the first five minutes we were not playing well RAFAEL BENITEZ

CAPTION(S):

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez knows things are looking up