Grand National weekend results find Manchester City out in front in race for fourth. Liverpool should be worried.

Fast forward 12 months and on a weekend when Tony McCoy finally got the prize he wanted for so long, Liverpool couldn't look further away from the one they desire the most. The feeling that a goal was coming was never there and when Soto Kyrgiakos headed over, the crowd could sense the chance of three points and Champions League football slipping away, and that was with at least ten minutes still on the clock.

It's not mathematically impossible to get fourth and with Manchester City and Tottenham both capable of blowing themselves up, Liverpool shouldn't give up until it's 100% certain.

Realistically though, fourth has gone and Rafael Benitez and his team will be bitterly dissappointed that the absolute minimum target seems to be too far away in April. If City, as expected, get the last Champions League spot, Liverpool will have a fight on their hands to get back in.

They are an attractive prospect as it is, they have a bottomless pit of money that they can throw at anybody, but Champions League football would allow them a pick of the top stars from top clubs. Although there are a lot of good players at Eastlands, only Carlos Tevez can be considered as truly world class, and he was bought from a company. Arsene Wenger couldn't believe his luck at what he got for the erratic Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor and the likes of Lescott, Bellamy and Wright Phillips were all either making a step up or couldn't get first team football at a bigger club.

Star names such as Sergio Aguero, David Villa and David Silva are ones that appear in the rumour pages every transfer window and if City were to be in the Champions League, then these La Liga stars are realistic targets. They are the new Chelsea and just look what they have done with the promise of competing in the best competition in club football and an open chequebook.

It maybe isn't worth speculating about it until it's a certainty, but City's gradual rise will definitely be a concern to Benitez, his players and Christian Purslow. It makes Liverpool's need for new investment even greater and could permanently mean an end to the 'big four' as we know it. It is unfortunate that Liverpool's worst season in 5 years has coincided with City's good one, but no one can say they weren't warned of their potential force.

Pepe Reina's commitment is a huge boost for the club and if the other top stars show the same loyalty then, if they miss out this time round, Liverpool have every chance of getting back in amongst Europe's elite. For this to happen though, standards will have to dramatically improve.