Blow for Liverpool as Daniel Agger is set to be out for a month

Daniel Agger is set to be out for up to a month with a calf injury. The Liverpool defender, who suffered the injury in the FA Cup third-round win against Oldham, told the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that a scan showed he is likely to be out for four weeks.

The news will come as a blow to the Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, as the team try to consolidate their position in the top four. Liverpool have games against Aston Villa, Everton, West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal coming up in the next month and it is unlikely that Agger will be able to play in any of them.

Several injuries
Rodgers' squad has been hit by several injuries in the past two months with Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge missing games over the Christmas period while in defence Mamadou Sakho, Jose Enrique and Jon Flanagan have also been missing.

Sakho and Flanagan, who both have been struggling with hamstring injuries, could be back in the squad to face Stoke City on Sunday while Jose Enrique will not return until next month, having had knee surgery.

In better news for Rodgers, Agger has reiterated his wish to stay at Liverpool despite being out of the starting XI at times this season.

"I am not thinking along those lines at the moment, I don't," he told Jyllands-Posten. "I haven't heard anything apart from what is being written [about a move to Napoli] but I can't do much about that. There is no point spending any time [on those rumours].

"I have been unlucky at different points of the season. That's the way it is in football when there are so many players [to choose from]. Before one game I suffered a stomach injury and before another I got ill the night before the game and I would have played both times. So at times you are a bit unlucky. When the team is doing well then it becomes difficult."

New-found belief
Agger added that there is a new-found belief in the Liverpool squad this season, helped by Luis Suarez's stunning form. "You have to have a winning mentality as a football player but [this season]it has been all about a new belief in the squad. We have shown that we can be up there and compete and up front we have someone who scores a few goals every now and then."
Guardian Service