Benitez confident Liverpool skipper will escape rap

Gerrard struck Brown with a forearm to the back of the Portsmouth ace’s neck in the second half.

Benitez said, when asked if he feared about retrospective action against Gerrard: “I don’t think so.

“I haven’t seen it but I was asking and I think it was nothing.”

“I didn’t see it. I will speak with Michael Brown and then I will tell you,” Portsmouth boss Avram Grant said.

“They told me the referee was four metres away from this so I think the referee needs to see from four metres what I didn’t from 40 metres.

“Personally I like Steven Gerrard. I think he is a good player and a fair player.”

Liverpool face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.