my liverpool fc

Rafa explains Gerrard decision August 28 2007

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez believes that his squad is strong enough to avoid taking a risk on Steven Gerrard's injury.

The Reds skipper suffered a hairline fracture of the toe during the first leg of their UEFA Champions League third round qualifier against Toulouse, and required a pain-killing injection ahead of the Premier League game with Chelsea.

However Benitez is confident that this will not be a regular occurrence and admits he would rather rest his star midfielder in a bid to avoid long term injuries.

"I hope Steven will be okay for the weekend but the Champions League game will be a risk. It is better to keep him training here," he said.

"The doctor needs to decide after talking to the player when he can be risked.

"I do not want to lose Steve for a long time when you have enough players now for every game.

"If you push him too much it will be a risk, I want to keep him training and fit but ready. Maybe when he is not always 100% we can leave him out, that is what we will do."

Benitez will use Peter Crouch from the start in Tuesday night's second leg and replace Gerrard in midfield with either Mohamed Sissoko or Javier Mascherano.

The Spaniard is hopeful Gerrard will have recovered in time to face Derby at the weekend, but stopped short of showing any genuine confidence.

"I would hope Steven will be a possibility to play against Derby, but I am not sure, it is up to the doctors," he said.

"Then we will have to see about England. It is too soon yet, it will depend very much on what England's medical people feel and our own medical staff."

Defender Sami Hyypia will stand in for the injured Jamie Carragher despite the Finn having sustained a broken nose at Sunderland, while Alvaro Arbeloa is also a possible central defensive stand-in.

Defender Gabriel Paletta was sold to Boca Juniors for around £2million this weekend, a deal completed before the injury problems arose, but Benitez refused to dwell on his apparent lack of cover at centre-back.

He said: "There is no point considering what I would have done had I known about the injuries but Paletta needed to be playing so it is best that he has gone to Boca.

"Sami will be okay; he has trained and is happy to play against Toulouse."