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Liverpool are gearing up to welcome non-league Havant and Waterlooville this weekend, with Xabi Alonso conceding that the cups now offer the Reds their most realistic avenue for success in this inconsistent campaign.

The red half of Merseyside was widely expected to launch a serious assaulton the Premier League titlr this season, but too msny drawn games have left them trailing Manchester United and Arsenal by a massive 14 points - and Alonso knows it will now be hard to for Liverpool to end their 18-year wait to become champions again.

"If you look at the Premier League we cannot be happy with the position now and we have to try to improve a lot," the Spaniard told Liverpoolfc.tv ahead of Saturday's FA Cup fourth round meeting with the minnows from the Blue Square Conference South - level six of the English pyramid.

"We lack that consistency that you need to be at the top of the table. We expected a lot this season - we only needed to improve our away form. We have done that but now we are lacking the home form we had a few seasons ago. That's something we are going to have to add," said Alonso.

Regarding the difference between Liverpool's cup and league form, Alonso commented: "It's a good story and a bad story, depending on which way you look at it. We have been brilliant in the cups: I have been here three seasons and each one has ended with a cup final as the last game. We have done things properly in the cups."

Liverpool are obviously expected to put part-timers Havant and Waterlooville to the sword and move comfortably into the fifth round of the FA Cup. .

Alonso said: "Hopefully we'll see some goals but before you score you have to take it step by step. You saw against Luton that it took a while to score the first goal. It was longer than expected.

"If they have reached this round they deserve as much respect as we gave Aston Villa. They are our next opponents at Anfield and we have to be as professional as they will be."

Liverpool's opponents will include plumbers, plasterers and gas engineers who play football part-time five divisions below the Premier League.

Alonso said: "I don't think I have played against a plumber before! In Spain that would not happen because the teams that are in the cup are all professional. You can only play teams up to two divisions below you.

"But this is all part of the glamour and the prestige that the FA Cup has. This is why it is so interesting.

"It is the oldest football competition in history and that's why it means so much to the supporters in this country. Every supporter, whether they follow a big or a small club, knows their team will be in it, and that's why it is so important.

"Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of them," he added. "I think it's close to London, that's what I heard after they beat Swansea. Thankfully it will be at Anfield because an away trip there would have been tough.

"But of course this is a great achievement for them. It's going to be a dream come true for some of them because I think some are Liverpool fans. It will be interesting.

"Rafa always tells us about the opposition players and he won't change that this time. He will briefly show us about the way they play and the players they have."

source:goal.com