Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard admits he is ‘fearing the worst’ over Ludwig Augustinsson’s injury after the left-back appeared to clutch his hamstring before coming off on his Aston Villa debut at Elland Road.
The Sweden international was brought into the side for the clash against Leeds United with Ashley Young deployed at right-back to cover Matty Cash, while Lucas Digne is also nursing a heel problem. But moments before half time, Augustinsson went down appearing to hold his hamstring, before being replaced by Jan Bednarek.
Asked after the game if the full-back will be missing for some time, Gerrard aid: “Possibly, we’ll scan him tomorrow. When you leave the pitch as early as that and you’re holding that area you’re fearing the worst so I expect it to be a hamstring.”
Augustinsson joins Digne, Diego Carlos and Boubacar Kamara on the injury list, while Cash is making good progress and is nearing a return to action after dealing with a hamstring issue of his own. Calum Chambers was missing from the squad that travelled up to Leeds and Gerrard revealed why in his press conference.
“Calum should be available for next week,” he said. “He’s had something in his appendix where he has had to have a small procedure, he’s in a little pain at the moment but when we’re playing the following Monday it should help and get him available.
“We’ve got a few issues in that area, it would be easy to feel sorry for myself but I’m not going to, I’m going to try and find the solutions, I know I’ve got the people and personnel to step forward and play out of their comfort zone. You’ve seen that again with Ezri playing at right-back, Ashley swapping again so we’ll find solutions rather than worry about the problems.”
[Source:birminghammail.co.uk]