Steven Gerrard will miss Liverpool trip to Fulham

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard is losing his battle to be fit for tomorrow's game at Fulham in the Premier League. The England midfielder has not been able to recover sufficiently from the adductor strain that he picked up while playing for the national team in early October, and manager Rafa Benitez has admitted it would be "difficult" for Gerrard to return so soon, news that will be music to the ears of Fulham's coach Roy Hodgson.

The Spaniard will not be best pleased that he has lost his talismanic captain for such a long time due to an injury picked up during a 'meaningless' international game - England had already qualified for South Africa 2010 before the trip to Ukraine where Gerrard was injured.

Since the international break, the midfielder has managed just 25 minutes out of four games, and one would imagine that as Benitez battles to make something out of Liverpool's season he will be loath to let such a key player travel to England's friendlies before the World Cup.

Despite the 2-1 loss to Arsenal in the Carling Cup on Wednesday night, a defeat that means Liverpool have lost five out of their last six games, Dutch midfielder Dirk Kuyt is looking on the brighter side of life. "The Carling Cup always gives a chance to players who maybe don't play as much in the Premier League, but we wanted to keep our momentum going," he told the Liverpool Daily Post. "Although we didn't win, I think we did that against Arsenal.

"We can go to Fulham with a lot of confidence because everyone knows this week coming is a big week for us," continued Kuyt, who captained Liverpool for the first time during the Arsenal game. "A few very big games are coming up, and if we can beat Fulham we can get back in the title race. We are ready for a big week. This defeat won't stop us being ready. We believe we can win the next couple of games, we can make a good run and you never know what might happen."

One player who could gain his first taste of Premier League action tomorrow is Alberto Aquilani, the £20m summer capture from Roma, who was highly impressive in the ten minutes that he played at the end of the Carling Cup game, being denied a penalty by a questionable Alan Wiley decision. Fernando Torres and Glen Johnson will also return, having been rested in midweek, for a fixture that Liverpool won 1-0 deep into injury time last season. ·