Injury Update 02/11/09

From football365.com

Liverpool could be without 12 players for their crucial Champions League clash with Lyon on Wednesday night.

Steven Gerrard's continuing groin problems mean he is almost certainly out of the trip to France, while Fernando Torres is not fully fit and was withdrawn as a precaution after an hour against Fulham at the weekend.

Albert Riera's hamstring problems mean he will miss the game, while Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger, Glen Johnson, Fabio Aurelio and David Ngog all missed the defeat at Craven Cottage, and are big doubts for Wednesday night.

Alberto Aquilani was absent at the weekend with a virus, and even if he recovers from that Benitez will be reluctant to use him as the Italian has only just returned from the injury that saw him miss the first three months of the season.

Martin Kelly and Diego Cavalieri are also doubtful with an ankle injury and the flu respectively, while Philip Degen was not included in the Champions League squad.

Over at Manchester United, Wayne Rooney missed training on Monday - but that's more likely to be connected to the imminent birth of his first child than any injury.

Central defensive duo Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were also absent, although that was no surprise given the pair sat out Saturday's victory over Blackburn with calf problems.

Ryan Giggs has a knee injury while Dimitar Berbatov was also missing, though Park Ji-sung was able to train after a recent absence with fluid on his knee.

Darren Fletcher was on the bench for the Blackburn game and is expected to feature against CSKA Moscow on Tuesday night, with a view to starting against Chelsea next weekend after missing five games with an ankle injury.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger confirmed that Nicklas Bendtner will be out for around a month after picking up a groin injury against Tottenham.

Boss Arsene Wenger said: "He's got a groin problem, it's quite serious and he could be out four weeks at least."

Tottenham defender Sebastien Bassong has revealed he is likely to be sidelined for four or five weeks after picking up a hamstring injury in the defeat to Arsenal.

Bassong's injury compounded a miserable afternoon for Spurs at the Emirates Stadium as they lost 3-0 to their fierce rivals.

Bassong admits it was the low point of his Spurs career to date and has now ruled himself out of action for around a month.

"It's not good news. It's a hamstring. I'll be out maybe four or five weeks. It just feels like my muscle is gone," he said in the Daily Mirror.

"It was really not a good day for me or the club or the fans. It was the worst day of the season."

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson has ruled Damien Duff out of Thursday's Europa League trip to Roma, but he could yet receive good news about two more of his absentees.

"AJ had an intervention on Thursday to freeze a nerve on his groin," said the Fulham manager. "If we are lucky, it will have worked we will get him back in because he is as fit as a butcher's dog. We will know about Danny Murphy on Monday as well."

In a remarkable turnaround, it now seems like former injury kings Birmingham are now free of trouble - even if Roger Johnson gave a very different impression during the Manchester City game as he writhed around.

"The lads were having a right good laugh about it in there. We thought that the big fella was in a life-threatening situation but I think he got winded after getting smashed in the windpipe," said Big Eck.

Plenty more injury news will follow later this week after the Champions League games.

Cheers,
AM