Murphy told to forget rejection by Liverpool

Alan Curbishley has told Danny Murphy to relax and enjoy himself ahead of tonight's game against old club Liverpool.

The Charlton midfielder is desperate to prove a point to Rafael Benitez after being sold last summer, but is being urged to treat the reunion with his former team-mates as just another game.

Curbishley believes that Murphy lost his head when Charlton slumped to a 2-0 Premiership defeat at Anfield in October.

He said: "Danny shouldn't take it too seriously and perhaps he did that at Anfield. It's not Danny Murphy versus Liverpool, he's just part of our side. If he thinks it's him versus the other 11 he may lose it somewhere. "He's performing very well at the moment and having an effect on games, but if he loses it in the dressing room it doesn't help. The game at Anfield passed him by like it did for most of us. We're not making any special arrangements. He wasn't captain at Anfield and won't be captain tomorrow. It's just another game. Danny can take a game by the scruff of its neck and change it in a few minutes, which is what he did on Saturday. All that's missing is a few more goals." Curbishley has no new injury worries, with both Murphy and Bryan Hughes shrugging off minor knocks, but his major concern is how to subdue Steven Gerrard.

The England midfielder has been in sensational form recently and Curbishley admits that he is capable of winning the game on his own.

He said: "Steven Gerrard is a man on a mission. He's trying to drag Liverpool wherever he can and it seems like he's winning games on his own at the moment.

"You can see it in his expression. He's desperate for Liverpool to win something and do well."