Although Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers attempted to assuage fears that club captain Steven Gerrard was about to join the ever lengthening list of injured players, the Reds are keeping a close eye on the fitness of the 34-year old as they enter an extremely important run of the matches.
The Anfield outfit will visit Aston Villa on Saturday as they attempt to build on last weekend’s win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light before sandwiching in a FA Cup fifth round clash with Championship side Bolton Wanderers between a two-legged home and away League Cup semi-final meeting with Premier League pace-setters Chelsea. If that’s not enough, Gerrard’s hamstring problem means they could very well be doing it all without their talisman.
After failing to turn their first half domination into goals against the Black Cats last weekend, the withdrawal of the 34-year old at the break saw Gus Poyet’s side start the second half with renewed vigour and in the end they were a bit unlucky not to snag at least a point from the faltering Reds. While Rodgers is yet to provide an update on Gerrard’s fitness, he did confirm in his post match interview that he was taken off more to prevent the problem from getting worse than anything else. “It was just precautionary,” explained the Northern Irishman. “He’ll have a scan on his hamstring. It just felt a little bit tight, so we’ll just need to manage that and see how it is.”
With Adam Lallana sidelined for at least the remainder of the month and a question mark still hanging over the fitness of the soon to return Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool’s already dismal record in front of goal would be dealt another blow should Gerrard — who is their top scorer so far this season — end up on the treatment table for any length of time. Although the Reds are going to have to learn to cope without him when he leaves for the LA Galaxy in June, now is certainly not the time to start trying…
