ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS:LIVERPOOL HAVE been forced to delay Alberto Aquilani's eagerly anticipated Premier League debut and may send Steven Gerrard for surgery next week should he fail to make their critical Champions League tie in Lyon.
Gerrard will be absent for the third time in four matches due to a persistent groin problem when Rafael Benitez’s side face Fulham. The Liverpool manager remains hopeful his captain can avoid an operation and has not ruled the midfielder out of Wednesday’s European tie when qualification for the knockout phase will be under serious threat.
Benitez conceded, however, that Gerrard may be left no option but to go under the knife should he miss the trip to Stade de Gerland.
“I’m not sure if he will need surgery,” said the Spaniard. “The physios are working very hard with him. He came from the international duty with the problem. We were working with him, we put him on the pitch, but still he felt something. Now we have to be careful because we don’t want to take any risks.
“If he cannot improve in a few days we will analyse again the situation. It’s a difficult situation and I don’t know exactly what it is. He has a pain in his groin. We are working with him and he has no power. It’s not because of the muscle, it’s because of the pain in the muscle so they are working there. Next week we have to decide. If he’s not doing well, we have to decide.”
Benitez said Gerrard was “a little bit low because he thought he could be better but he still has the same problem” but refused to discount Gerrard’s availability for France. “You never know. In one or two days he can improve,” the manager added.
With Fernando Torres not fully recovered from a groin injury, and Glen Johnson also ruled out of the Fulham trip with a calf problem, Benitez’s selection problems have not eased since the invaluable defeat of Manchester United last Sunday.
Plans to give Aquilani, signed for €22million from Roma in August, another chance to improve match fitness and build on Wednesday’s impressive cameo against Arsenal in the League Cup have also been postponed due to a virus. Benitez confirmed that Aquilani does not have swine flu.
- Guardian Service
