Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Three vital injury boosts for Liverpool


Rafa Benitez is confident of having Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger and Glen Johnson fit to face Man City this weekend.

All three have trained well after sitting out international duty and should be available for Saturday's crunch fixture against Mark Hughes' men.

However, Benitez is likely to be without top scorer Fernando Torres.

He told Liverpoolfc.tv: "Agger is okay. He had a small problem with his back but he's training. It was a very good decision from Denmark's manager (to withdraw Agger) because he is much better now. I think he'll be okay for the weekend.

"Johnson has been training. Not full sessions, but training, so hopefully he'll be okay for the weekend too.

"Gerrard is doing well. He finished a full training session today, so if he can carry on then he'll be okay as well.

"Fernando Torres is training with the physios, so I don't think he'll be available."

Benitez also had good news to report on hamstring duo Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera, who were originally ruled out for four weeks after pulling up against Birmingham on November 9.

The boss said: "I was talking about four weeks but they are working hard with the physios and doing special treatments. We have to check but maybe they'll be back earlier than expected."

Meanwhile, Benitez expects to have David Ngog available for our forthcoming fixtures despite breaking his nose with France U21s.

"We know Ngog has broken his nose but it's not serious," he said. "I am not sure yet because we haven't seen him but I think he'll be okay, it won't be serious."

Elsewhere, Fabio Aurelio - who could not accept a long-awaited call to the Brazil squad due to a calf injury - remains a concern.

"It's a pity because he was waiting for this call for a long time, then when he got the opportunity he had a problem," said Benitez. "He's improving but still has a little bit of a problem with his calf. It will be difficult for him to play against Man City."

No comments :

Post a Comment