With veteran Liverpool duo Martin Skrtel and Steven Gerrard already set to miss the midweek FA Cup quarter-final replay with Championship side Blackburn Rovers, they’ll now be without outstanding make-shift defender Emre Can as well after the German saw red against Arsenal on Saturday.
Trailing by two goals and doing (almost) everything they could to find a second, the Reds put a poor first half behind them and started to really press the Gunners in the second period of play. The 21-year old, who put in a really good performance as the German u-21 came up agonizingly short against their English counterparts earlier in the week, looked to be arguably their best player on the pitch, but following a seriously poorly executed challenge on Danny Welbeck, the youngster was given his marching orders — something that didn’t sit well with captain Jordan Henderson.
Once again wearing the armband in the absence of Gerrard, the Liverpool vice-captain protested the German’s case vigorously, but referee Anthony Taylor was unmoved. “I thought it was a little harsh. I felt he just tried to press him, slipped and went into the player,” he told BTSport, once again arguing the innocence of his team-mate following the match. “It is a blow that he is now suspended.”
The Reds face a tricky trip to Ewood Park on Wednesday with a spot in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and a much needed morale boosting trip to Wembley Stadium to face Aston Villa hanging in the balance. Without Can, who has done a fantastic job playing out of position on the right side of Brendan Rodgers three-man defence, the Northern Irishman could be forced to recall former Southampton man Dejan Lovren to the starting eleven — a player that has not only failed to inspire confidence since his big money move, but hasn’t featured in the Premier League in over a month.
Now do you understand why Henderson was putting up such a fight?
