By Alan Hansen
BBC Sport football expert

Liverpool have played their way back into serious contention to seal Champions League qualification by beating Everton - indeed I believe they are now firm favourites to finish fourth.

I qualify this statement, as you must, by saying it is based on the assumption that Liverpool's "A" team will turn up for the rest of the season as opposed to the "B" team we have seen at Burnley, Southampton and Birmingham.

The Premiership can be loosely divided up into two sections - the top three and the rest.

But if there is a team that fills that little gap between the top three and the rest it is Liverpool, and they showed why against Everton.

This is not a partisan ex-Red speaking. I base this on performances we have seen throughout the season where - when they are up for it - they can compete against the best and play very good football.

Liverpool have shown they can beat anybody, but the worry is they have shown they can also lose to anybody.

They have massive lows that successful teams normally have after a run of 15 unbeaten games or so.

The bad thing for Liverpool is that they seem able to have them from one game to the next.

But if Liverpool play as they did against Everton for the rest of the season, then I believe they will finish fourth.

Liverpool have a bad injury list, but I don't hold too much with that.

They can still put out a good team capable of beating most sides, and if people look back at the table in future and see they didn't qualify for the Champions League, they won't say it was because they had injuries.

Injuries affect all teams, although they have admittedly affected Liverpool more than most.

Liverpool played at a really high tempo in the derby, and to be perfectly honest Everton were not at the races.

Rafael Benitez's side came flying out of the blocks and never gave Everton a second.

Everton, I fear, are in trouble now in their quest for fourth position.

I sincerely hope they get a place in Europe because I have done nothing but extol the virtues of David Moyes and his players this season.

They are a shining example of what can be achieved in football by hard-work, organisation and players working for each other - sadly that will only get you so far.

They have also done it without a massive transfer outlay, which gives hope to so many others.

But they have had a long, hard season, their backs have been to the wall in a lot of matches and the vast majority of their victories have been by one goal.

And because they have played that way all season - and deserve great credit for it - it is very difficult to keep grinding and grinding and then change it.

It takes a heavy mental toll on players to play in that fashion.

It is difficult enough to play like that for 20 games let alone 50. They ran out steam towards the end of the campaign two seasons ago, and they have had some poor results recently.

If Everton get into the Champions League, it will be one of the great managerial feats by Moyes - and if they get into the Uefa Cup it will have been a season to dream about.

Indeed, if Everton finish in the top 10, they will have had a great season, but I really hope they get a European place.

The same could apply to Bolton and their manager Sam Allardyce, who are the next visitors to Anfield.

If they get into Europe, that is also a magnificent achievement.

If the battle for fourth is getting tasty, what about the battle for survival at the bottom?

Just a few weeks ago you would have said it was any three from four - Norwich, West Brom, Southampton and Crystal Palace.

Suddenly, Southampton and Crystal Palace look like they could win games, particularly at home, and Bryan Robson has revived West Brom.

Robson has done a brilliant job in a short time at The Hawthorns. I saw them lose to Birmingham and Liverpool - well, thrashed by Birmingham and Liverpool - and they were unbelievably bad.

You wouldn't have given them a prayer, but Robson has got them organised and difficult to play against and they have had great results back-to-back against Birmingham and Charlton.

Southampton had a massive result at Middlesbrough, and even though Norwich are right on the trapdoor at the moment, West Brom have proved two wins may be all it needs to send you up the table.

These results have dragged other teams into the fray, and now Portsmouth and Fulham could easily get involved if they do not start getting results - and fast.

So while the title race may be close to being decided with Chelsea holding an 11-point lead, there are still many crucial and exciting issues to be decided.

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/4368293.stm