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Rafa Benitez watched Fernando Torres notch a superb second-half hat-trick in the 4-2 win at Reading yet says that still wont guarantee Liverpool´s £24 million record signing a place in the team against Wigan this weekend. Bodog has 3/1 odds that Liverpool will win the English Premiership.

Torres has been left out from the starting 11 for Liverpool´s last two Barclays Premier League games against Portsmouth and Birmingham. Against Reading last night he grabbed goals in the 49th, 70th and 86 minutes to fire his team into the fourth round of the Carling Cup.

But the reality is Torres could find himself on the bench again at the JJB Stadium: "Will he start the next game? We will see. I cannot guarantee
anything because I like to see my strikers during the week. We have four strikers and if I say now that he will play, it will be easy for Wigan,"
said Benitez.

"I am only thinking about my team. Our supporters are very clever, they know that I am trying to do the best for the team," added the Spaniard.

Upon being questioned why Torres was dropped from Liverpool´s previous two league games, Benitez answered: "This was a very different game to last Saturday, it is about space. Fernando knows why he was left out. It was because of space. I didn't need to explain it too much. All the players want to play in every game.

"If you say to me that Dirk Kuyt is a worse striker or Peter Crouch is a worse striker or Andriy Voronin is a worse striker then I would play Torres
every game. But because we have very good strikers, I like to choose the strikers for every game and if it is necessary to change I will change.

"I am thinking about the best for my team. I think it was a terrific game for Fernando. But the team worked really hard and it was a very difficult
game. We knew it could be like that but with the space, Fernando is really dangerous.

"But the rest of the team showed real character as well as Fernando. That is the key for me because you can play with one or two strikers working hard but other players not doing their jobs. But every player did a fantastic job."

Reading drew level on two occasions only for Torres to put paid to their chances.

Said Reading manager Steve Coppell: "I thought we had some good opportunities but the difference was obviously £20million," said Coppell.
"We are disappointed. You want to play against the best players and that's where you make your reputation by stopping these people playing. For us to come off and he's scored three, then we are disappointed."

Bodog.com odds to win the English Premiership 2007/2008

Manchester United 3/2
Chelsea FC 7/2
Liverpool FC 3/1
Arsenal FC 3/1
Any other Team 50/1

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