Rafa Benitez today warned the England manager not to play the talismanic Liverpool captain if there are any major concerns over his fitness, especially if the player requires pain-killing injections to play.

It appears that England would need permission from Liverpool to administer such an injection to allow Stevie G to ‘play through the pain’.

Benitez said today: “We have not taken any risks with Steven at Liverpool and I would not expect England to take any risks with him.”

“We do not want Steven to play for England with any painkilling injections. We did that against Chelsea and it took four to five days for him to recover to be able to train again.”

Rafa appears intent that Gerrard will not figure in the first game, and only play in the second international if his foot has healed significantly as Liverpool have an important end to September with a tricky game in the Premiership against Portsmouth before the beginning of the League Cup and Champions League campaigns.