Left: Liverpool's Steven Gerrard, Right: Yakubu Ayegbeni of Everton.

LONDON (AP)

Even with Premier League title contenders Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all in action this week, much of the attention will temporarily switch to the battle for fourth place.

Liverpool versus Everton.

The fierce city rivals are separated by just one place and two points in the fight for England's final Champions League qualifying berth, with Everton able to leap above their more illustrious neighbour into fourth if they win at Anfield on Sunday.

But Everton have beaten the record 18-time English champions just twice in 16 meetings, and are without an away win against their biggest rival since 1999.

"For many years, Everton haven't really been able to compete as closely as we'd like. But we are now on the shoulders of Liverpool and a couple of other teams and we have got to try and stay there,'' Everton manager David Moyes said.

Working on a fraction of the budget of his Liverpool counterpart Rafa Benitez, Moyes has been at Everton for six years and has led the club away from the relegation zone to make it a realistic contender for silverware.

The Toffees reached the semi-finals of this year's League Cup - their first last-four appearance in any competition for 13 years - and were unlucky to exit the UEFA Cup last month by losing a penalty shoot-out to Fiorentina.

The disparity in resources is amply demonstrated by the strikers likely to go head-to-head this weekend.

While Everton will be relying on 11.25 million-pound record signing Yakubu Ayegbeni to add to his season tally of 19 goals, Liverpool should have Fernando Torres upfront.

The Spain striker, who cost more than twice as much when he joined in the offseason, should be fit after injuring his ankle and ribs in last week's 3-0 loss at Manchester United to try to add to his 27 goals for the Reds.

"We saw that every time he went for the ball on Sunday, he was put under a lot of pressure, but at this moment I think he will be fit for Sunday,'' Benitez said.

Torres missed Liverpool's 2-1 win at Everton in October.

Moyes has already guided Everton to a fourth-place finish ahead of Liverpool, in 2005, but both clubs qualified for the Champions League on that occasion because the Reds won the trophy to go in as defending champions.

The rules have since been changed, throwing up the possibility that Everton could finish fourth at Liverpool's expense and still miss out on a Champions League place to its rival. After 2005, UEFA ruled that a country can provide a maximum four teams and that defending champions qualified by right.

"We have always had an uphill task because of Liverpool,'' Moyes said.

Manchester United, who are five points clear of Chelsea at the top of the standings and seeking to move to within one of Liverpool's record 18 championships, host Aston Villa tomorrow when third-place Arsenal are at struggling Bolton.

United have already beaten Villa twice this season and are on a 13-game winning streak against the Birmingham club.