And despite having signed Greek international Sotirios Kyrgiakos for £2m, Benitez may still opt for teenager Daniel Ayala, or even spring a surprise by using Martin Skrtel, who is suffering from a fractured jaw.
Skrtel has been training over the past few days, but Benitez will consider his fitness and the risk factor close to kick off.
He believes that the 30 year-old Kyrgiakos lacks match fitness.
Meanwhile Benitez anticipates plenty of teams taking points off the Reds, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
He said: "This will be a different sort of title race. Already we have lost, and so have Manchester United.
"There are other teams who can make an impact - Spurs, Manchester City, Villa - and I believe it will be a lot harder this season for the top four teams to win every game.
