Time for a Liverpool show of character says Rafael Benitez

However, a Jamie Carragher own goal gifted the hosts an unlikely equaliser and substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko snatched victory for Harry Redknapp's side in the final minute.

The loss came just six days after Liverpool had climbed to top spot courtesy of a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge which ended Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten home record. Since then, Luiz Felipe Scolari's side have recovered to win 3-0 at Hull City in midweek and then crushed Sunderland 5-0 on Saturday, to reclaim pole position thanks to a goal difference of plus 23 which is 15 better than Liverpool's total of eight.

Benitez believes that his own team must now follow their title rivals' example.

He said: "Chelsea have shown that they're a good team and we have to show the same. We have to show the same character now.

"It's football - sometimes you can win, you can lose but after this last game we don't need to be worried about the performance of the team, their character or quality. The key is to keep the confidence in the team and keep working as hard as we did against Tottenham and we will be there."

Liverpool were on top for such long periods at White Hart Lane, with Steven Gerrard striking the post and crossbar and Xabi Alonso missing a golden opportunity with a free header, Benitez was at a loss to explain where it all went wrong.

He said: "It's not easy for me to define where the turning point was in Spanish - and it's even more difficult in English! We were so dominant. We were controlling the game, we were controlling everything.

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"It was a surprise. At half-time we were talking about how we needed to score a second goal to finish the game. It's really difficult to explain how we conceded two goals and lost this game.

"Harry said 'Sometimes you need luck' and I agree with him. I have had some experience here in England of playing well, creating chances and conceding goals in the last minute but that's the Premier League. It's very difficult to win every game now because some of the other teams are really good."

However, after a collection of dropped points, mostly from a series of home draws in games they dominated, prevented any serious title challenge from Liverpool last season, the Spaniard emphasised how important it is to be clinical in front of goal.

He said: "We could see that the team is really good, the players have quality and the mentality is good but sometimes it's the last pass. Taking your chances is the key mentality for winning titles. I think we have a good mentality but we still need to take our chances. We've been winning without Fernando (Torres). We know when we have Fernando we have another option which is different.

"But Keane was doing well with Gerrard and after that Babel with Kuyt - it was always a threat. You cannot talk about Torres because the rest of the players were doing well, so it would not be fair.

"Clearly when you have a striker with the quality and potential of Torres he will be a good addition for us."

Benitez's big summer recruit, £20million striker Robbie Keane, emerged from his first return to White Hart Lane still waiting to score his first Premier League goal for Liverpool having been withdrawn midway through the second half, but the Irish international laid on the opener for Dirk Kuyt.

"Robbie was okay. He was doing a good job keeping the centre-back busy and Gerrard had space so he was doing his job properly," said Benitez. "I was thinking about changing things (by substituting Keane) because we were so dominant I wanted to control the pace more."

Liverpool's match against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, January 10, will now kick-off at 5.30pm and will be shown live on Setanta. The Anfield visit of Chelsea has been moved from Saturday, January 31 to Sunday, February 1 at 4pm, and will broadcast live