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West Brom game a must-win for erratic Liverpool

LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom - Fabio Aurelio has warned Liverpool to forget their European exploits and concentrate on the Premier League after labelling Sunday’s home fixture with West Brom as a must-win game.

Roy Hodgson’s team were made to toil in the second leg of their Europa League play-off at Turkish side Trabzonspor on Thursday before two late goals secured a 3-1 aggregate win that saw them into the competition’s group phase.

Friday’s draw pitched them into a group with Italian side Napoli, Romania’s Steaua Bucharest and Utrecht of the Netherlands.

Aurelio, who played in the match in Turkey, said that Liverpool’s victory, without key players Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, showed that the team has character to bounce back.

But the Brazilian full-back says that Liverpool must follow it up with victory against newly-promoted West Brom after a poor start to the Premier League campaign.

Last Monday’s emphatic 3-0 defeat at Manchester City left Hodgson’s side with one point from a possible six after two games.

“It was very important to qualify and get into the group stage of the Europa League,” said Aurelio.

“Now we need to focus and try to recover as quickly as we can because we have an important match.

“We are playing at home against a team who are not in the top four, so we need to get the three points because our record after the first two games isn’t the best.”

With Javier Mascherano poised to complete a move to Barcelona, Hodgson will be hoping Gerrard and Torres are both fit enough to return this weekend.

Captain Gerrard missed the trip to Turkey because of a back injury, while Torres also stayed behind on Merseyside and was not risked after only recently returning from a groin problem.

Milan Jovanovic and Daniel Agger were absent in mid-week and could return in place of Martin Kelly and Aurelio.

With Joe Cole still serving a domestic ban, Hodgson will decide between handing Denmark midfielder Christian Poulsen a Premier League debut or continuing with the 4-4-2 formation used against City and partnering Torres with David Ngog.

Aurelio insists that a first league victory is crucial against West Brom, who have not won at Anfield since 1967.

“We are still improving and learning from the new coach,” added Aurelio.

“The team can improve a lot and I think we will. We will see a different team in the future.

“Every game is different. The Manchester City defeat was a disappointing result for us against a big team, but there is a long way to go.

“We can take heart from our performance in Turkey. It’s very hard because you know in football you need to take your chances, but you cannot give up when you don’t.

“We fought until the end and got the result because of hard work.”