Liverpool faces midfield injury crisis
Liverpool is facing an injury crisis in the middle of the pitch ahead of their English Premier League showdown with West Ham United on Saturday 20 November after Jay Spearing was ruled out of action for six weeks with an injury.
Spearing had been set to make his first EPL start for the club after captain Steven Gerrard suffered a hamstring tear in England's 2-1 friendly defeat to France, which will put him on the sidelines for up to four weeks. Fellow midfielder Lucas Leiva is also
out of the game after he was sent off in the 2-0 defeat to Stoke City on Saturday 13 November.
However, 21-year-old Spearing cracked a bone in his ankle in a 5-a-side game during a training session on Friday.
Reds manager Roy Hodgson told the club's official website that: "Unfortunately right at the end of the training session, he turned his ankle and cracked a small bone just above the ankle in his fibia. That means he is going to be missing for six weeks. It
is a terrible blow for Jay and us. He has been doing ever so well and getting closer and closer to a place in the first team. I was considering using him in this game, possibly even starting him."
With Hodgson's options now limited, he may have to turn to Christian Poulsen to start in the game. The Denmark international has struggled to adjust to life in the EPL following his summer switch from Italian giants Juventus, but with Hodgson's midfield
options decimated by injury and suspension, he may be forced to give the 30-year-old his sixth start in the league.
Liverpool now faces a run of EPL games against West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Newcastle United without Gerrard and Spearing, while the captain is also likely to miss matches in the UEFA Europa League against Steaua Bucharest and FC Utrecht.
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