DUDEK: RAFA WILL WIN TITLE

Departing Liverpool hero Jerzy Dudek is confident Rafael Benitez will one day win the Premiership title with the Reds.

With Spanish goalkeeper Jose Reina nursing a shoulder injury and unlikely to be risked ahead of the Champions League final this month, Dudek could well deputise against relegated Charlton on Sunday.

Whether this will also be Robbie Fowler's final goodbye to the club - his contract is unlikely to be renewed - is still not clear, but the final Premier League game of the season could well be an emotional affair.

Dudek has already decided to leave when his contract runs out in the summer, and the man who became a hero in Istanbul with his penalty shoot-out performance will probably now play the last of 187 appearances for the club he joined in 2002.

And the 34 year-old said: "We are all happy with the way we have played in the Premiership in the second-half of the season and I feel we are not too far away from winning it.

"Rafa knows what he has to do to take the club across the finishing line. If he is able to bring in quality players in the summer in one or two key positions, then we will be very close next season.

"If it doesn't happen next year, then the Premiership will be at Liverpool soon."

He added: "It makes me a little sad that I won't be here on the pitch to enjoy a title success but I will be watching from wherever I am. I will be as happy as any supporter from the Kop."

Benitez is likely to field a much stronger side that the one that lost 1-0 at Fulham last weekend, effectively gifting the west-Londoners three points that have kept them in the division.

Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger, Javier Mascherano, Peter Crouch and Dirk Kuyt were all rested from that match, allowing Harry Kewell to make his first appearance of the season.

All are likely to face Charlton, particularly Kewell who is now trying desperately to prove his fitness ahead of the Athens final against AC Milan on May 23.

But Benitez will again want to give run-outs to some of his younger players, and reserve defender Jack Hobbs - substitute in the Portsmouth and Fulham matches - could well make his debut.