Tuesday, 28th January, 2014
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has revealed that Joe Allen will be assessed ahead of his side’s Merseyside derby today, but the manager explained Mamadou Sakho is still “two to three weeks away” from returning to action.
Allen, who complained of a tight hamstring in training last week, missed the Reds’ 2-0 triumph over Bournemouth in the FA Cup at the weekend.
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And Rodgers insisted that the Welsh international will undergo a late fitness test today to determine his availability against Everton.
However, the Northern Irishman admitted that he is unwilling to risk Allen, who has had an injury ravaged campaign this term, against the Toffees if the midfielder is not fully fit.
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"We just need to see [with Allen]. We’ve still got a wee bit of time to decide that, and he was on the training field today [Monday]”, Rodgers told his club’s official site.
"It's just a case of assessing Joe on whether this game is going to push him too much and whether he's fully fit.
"What we don't want is another injury. Maybe if we had a raft of players, we could put him in and if he came out of the team we'd have someone else to put in.
"At this moment in time, we don't have that, so we have to think not only about tomorrow night, but the coming weeks because we've got some very important games.”
Rodgers further confirmed that Sakho, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, will not be available against Everton at Anfield, as the defender is still a few weeks away from becoming fully fit.
"Sakho won't be available. He's still two to three weeks away yet with his injury."
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