Liverpool face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday in the Premier League, kick-off at 15:00 hours (GMT). The visitors go into Saturday’s clash fifth in the league, six points behind current leaders Chelsea and seven points in front of Fulham who lie 13th having played a game less than the Reds.

Rafa Benitez is hopeful that Torres, who sat out the midweek Carling Cup defeat at Arsenal, will be back for the clash against the Londoners. “He is improving. He’s been training and working with the physios. We will see if he is a little bit better this weekend. It’s a difficult situation because if you play games, you often don’t have too much time to get fit again.”

Last weekend the Reds ended a poor run of results with an excellent 2-0 win at home to Man U. Fernando Torres sent Liverpool on their way to all three points with his ninth goal of the season- a strike that moved him back top of the Premier League goal charts. Against United, the forward out-muscled Ferdinand before beating Van der Saar with a shot into the roof of the net. David Ngog doubled the home side’s lead deep into injury-time to secure a vital win for Liverpool.

Fernando Torres opened his goal account against Fulham in his first season on Merseyside. The ‘Niño’, who was making a return from injury, entered the fray in the 70th minute with the game still 0-0. The Spaniard had an immediate impact, scoring a cracker, as Liverpool eventually ran-out 2-0 winners.

Fulham have won just one of their last five league outings, and face Liverpool on the back of a 2-2 draw away to Manchester City. All four goals came in the second-half with the Sky Blues going 2-0 up thanks to strikes from Lescott and Petrov. Duff pulled a goal back for Fulham on 62 minutes before Dempsey hit the visitor’s equaliser just six minutes later.

The most recent meeting between the two teams took place towards the end of last season. An injury-time winner from Benayoun clinched a 1-0 victory for Liverpool which moved the Reds back top of the Premier League ahead of Man U, who still however had two games in-hand on the Anfield outfit.

Come Saturday, the Londoners will be hoping to improve on recent performances against the Anfield club. Fulham have failed to score in their last four games against Liverpool, losing three and drawing one.

A win for Torres and his teammates at Craven Cottage, combined with results elsewhere, could see the Reds move up to third in the table.