Liverpool are still in title race, says jubilant Benitez.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

Rafael Benitez last night claimed Liverpool had revived their title challenge with a -dramatic late 2-0 victory over Chelsea as Luiz Felipe Scolari admitted his prospects of bringing the Premier League trophy back to Stamford Bridge were vanishing into the distance.

Fernando Torres scored in the 89th and 94th minutes to spare Liverpool an eighth draw in 11 matches, but only after Frank Lampard had been sent off on the hour by the referee Mike Riley for a studs-first challenge on Xabi Alonso. Television replays later confirmed the England international played the ball before the man and Chelsea intend to appeal against the resulting three-match ban.

Victory closed the gap between Manchester United and Liverpool to only two points, albeit with the champions having played a game less, and came with Tom Hicks and George Gillett making their first joint appearance at Anfield since December 2007 and with Robbie Keane watching from the directors' box. Benitez later claimed that he expected Keane to remain a Liverpool player after this transfer window closes, although doubts remain over the striker's future and Tottenham are expected to make a final attempt to re-sign him today. A swap deal may appeal to Benitez more than a straight cash bid and Aaron Lennon has been mentioned a possible makeweight.

The Liverpool manager claimed to be unaware of a GBP15m offer from Tottenham for Keane and refused to divulge whether the American owners' presence at Anfield would break the impasse over his contract dispute with the club. Instead, he preferred to dwell on a result that lifted much of the recent frustrations at Anfield.

"You can't change your position every week in terms of how you approach the situation," said Benitez. "It was a really long race before this game, and we were in a good position, and it is still a long race now but we are in a better position. We deserved to win. We were better than them with 11 against 11 but with 11 against 10 we had more control and more opportunities."

As for Keane's predicament, with the Republic of Ireland captain omitted from the match-day squad for a second successive Sunday, Benitez said: "I think he will stay here. You have to decide from all your players about the best squad and that is what we did. Officially I don't know [if Liverpool had received a bid for Keane]. I spoke to the player today and he was OK. We were just talking about the game and afterwards he was very happy that the team had won. I think he will be here and he will be in my Champions League ...