Kenny Dalglish this morning confirmed that Steven Gerrard has been ruled out for the rest of the season.
After successfully undergoing surgery last month, Gerrard suffered a setback in training ahead of last weekend’s clash with West Brom. The full extent of the injury will be assessed, but Dalglish has established that his skipper will certainly miss the remaining weeks of the campaign.
Gerrard had been struggling with a groin injury for some time and it now appears that Liverpool will be without the influential midfielder for the rest of this term. His absence will come as a great blow to Liverpool Football Club as well as his loyal Fantasy Premier League (FPL) ownership of 6.3%. The Reds’ captain has had a stuttering season, with niggling injuries allowing him to make just 21 Premier League appearances and fetch 88 FPL points.
The likely candidate to fill Gerrard’s shoes is youngster Jay Spearing. Dalglish seems extremely fond of the Liverpool lad who has consecutively played 90 minutes in the side’s last two Premier League games. King Kenny also trusted him to start the ever feisty Liverpool Derby, back in January. Priced at just 4.5 on the FPL games, Spearing could offer a budget option with assist potential. A current 0.0% ownership shows he also offers fantastic “differential†potential.
The likely lads – Dirk Kuyt and Raul Meireles – will of course have to increase their attacking burden over the end of season run-in and could well be worth a place in your side. Kuyt will now be on spot-kicks, whilst Meireles should handle set-pieces and corners. Kuyt has scored 8 (including the memorable hat-trick against old foes United) and assisted on 6 occasions. Whilst Meireles has been something of a goal scoring machine over the second half of the season and during January and February he found the back of the net 5 times in 6 games – for 3 of the 5 games he scored in, Gerrard was absent.
The Bonus Points which are traditionally sent Gerrard’s way will also be up for grabs. Luis Suarez has picked up 7 in 5 Premier League starts and should see more head his way over the remaining 7 games. Although failing to find any since his big money switch, whilst still at Newcastle Andy Carroll grabbed 18. If he finds any form over the next few weeks, he could be worth a look-in.
Liverpool’s fixtures are certainly worth bearing in mind (MCY ars BIR NEW ful TOT) – they face 3 of their next 4 games at Anfield but come up against some tricky opponents.
