TWO titanic battles lie on the horizon but Pepe Reina can only see Stoke City in his sights.

Liverpool’s gutsy 1-0 victory at Manchester City on Wednesday night has put them in the box seat to book the club’s first trip to Wembley since 1996.

The stage is set for a memorable night at Anfield for the Carling Cup semi-final second leg on January 25.

Three days later the stakes will be just as high when Manchester United arrive for the mouthwatering FA Cup fourth round tie.

It promises to be a season-defining week for Kenny Dalglish’s side but Reina has warned his team-mates about looking too far ahead.

Prior to those high profile showdowns, there’s the small matter of six Premier League points being up for grabs.

Tomorrow’s home clash with Stoke City is followed by a trip to struggling Bolton next Saturday.

Cup glory may be sweet but Reina insists the Reds’ priority remains forcing their way into the top four.

And if they are going to end their two-year absence from the Champions League the shot-stopper knows there is little margin for error.

Having taken just five points out of the last 12 on offer, Liverpool find themselves in sixth place, three points adrift of fourth placed Chelsea.

“The main target for us is to get in the Champions League,” Reina said.

“There are at least six teams fighting for those four places so it’s tough.

“They all have strong squads but we are in the race for it.

“We are in the position we are but we want to be higher. The target is to be up there with the best. That all starts with getting three points at home to Stoke.

“We have some big games coming up but we can’t think about them. We must focus on Stoke. We have to look at it game by game, keep working and give 100%.”

The contrast between Manchester City and Stoke could hardly be greater.

Whereas City tried unsuccessfully to pass their way through the Reds’ rock-solid rearguard, the Potters will go route one.

Reina is preparing himself for an aerial bombardment and has called on Liverpool to show the same kind of character which was on display at the Etihad Stadium.

Stoke inflicted the Reds’ first defeat of the campaign at the Britannia Stadium back in September courtesy of Jon Walters’ controversial spot-kick.

But Dalglish’s side avenged that setback in the Carling Cup a month later and Reina believes they’ve proved they can match Stoke physically.

“It’s always hard to go to Stoke but we were very unlucky to lose in the league there,” he said.

“They are strong and powerful but we stood up to them. For the first time in a while we deserved to win there.

“It’s a bit easier when you play them at Anfield. But against Stoke it’s one of those games when you have to try to play at your own tempo.

“We have to try to keep the ball, move it around like we always do and play our own game.

“We’ve got to defend as well as we did against City.”

Reina admits he took extra special satisfaction from his display against the Premier League leaders.

The 29-year-old’s uncharacteristic error had put Roberto Mancini’s men on their way to a 3-0 win in the league game at the Etihad eight days earlier.

But on his return Reina showed his true colours – making key saves from Samir Nasri and Micah Richards to notch his ninth clean sheet of the season.

“When you’ve had a poor game, it always stays in your mind,” Reina said.

“I went back to the same stadium a week later and was very pleased to go away with a clean sheet.

“As a team we defended brilliantly and personally I was very pleased with my performance.”

Despite their problems away to Stoke in recent years, Liverpool’s record against them at home is outstanding. The Reds have won 14 of the last 15 league meetings at Anfield with Stoke scoring just once in their last 10 league visits.

Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson is keen to ensure that run continues tomorrow.

And he admits confidence in the squad is high on the back of Cup wins over Oldham and Man City.

“Winning at City was a massive achievement for us,” he said.

“I don’t think many teams have won there over the past few years.

“In the first half we played really good and then in the second half we tended to sit back a little bit to protect our lead.

“I thought we deserved the win in the end.

We’ll look forward to the second leg but before that we’ve got important league games to prepare for.

“We need to concentrate on Stoke and prepare well for that.

“We know what to expect from Stoke and they are a really hard team to play against.

“But we have to concentrate on ourselves and if we do that I’m sure we can get a good result.

“We’ll go into the game with a lot of confidence and it’s really important we string some wins together in the league now.”