LIVERPOOL have received a major boost ahead of Sunday’s trip to Tottenham after defender Martin Skrtel made a successful return to action.
The 24-year-old Slovakian has been sidelined since he suffered a hamstring injury in the friendly against Thailand three weeks ago.
However, Skrtel has now resumed full training and he played in a behind closed doors friendly against Oldham at the Academy in Kirkby yesterday.
He came through unscathed as goals from Lucas and Daniel Ayala secured the Reds a 2-0 victory.
Among the interested spectators was new £20million signing Alberto Aquilani, who watched the game alongside Rafa Benitez.
Skrtel is now expected to line up alongside Jamie Carragher at White Hart Lane with Daniel Agger likely to need more time to recover from a back problem.
The former Zenit St Petersburg defender is determined to end the club’s long wait for the Premier League crown.
“Last season we beat Man United home and away, beat Chelsea home and away and drew with Arsenal home and away,” Skrtel said.
“Our problem was dropping points against the other teams like Stoke home and away, West Ham and Hull at Anfield.
“This season we have to try and improve these small details. If we can do that while still beating the top teams, we’ll be even better this time.”
Meanwhile, Benitez was keeping his fingers crossed that his players returned to Melwood today in good shape after international duty.
Fernando Torres and Albert Riera were both on target as Spain rallied from 2-0 down at the interval to win their friendly in Macedonia 3-2.
Torres’ header started the fightback and Riera got the winner as the Spanish netted three times in four minutes.
Torres and keeper Pepe Reina both started the game. Torres played 64 minutes and Reina made way for Diego Lopez two minutes later, while Riera was a second half substitute.
Glen Johnson played the full 90 minutes in England’s 2-2 draw with Holland.
Dirk Kuyt scored for the Dutch early on and Ryan Babel came on after the break.
Javier Mascherano skippered Argentina to a 3-2 win over Russia in Moscow and Yossi Benayoun played 55 minutes of Israel’s 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland.
The 24-year-old Slovakian has been sidelined since he suffered a hamstring injury in the friendly against Thailand three weeks ago.
However, Skrtel has now resumed full training and he played in a behind closed doors friendly against Oldham at the Academy in Kirkby yesterday.
He came through unscathed as goals from Lucas and Daniel Ayala secured the Reds a 2-0 victory.
Among the interested spectators was new £20million signing Alberto Aquilani, who watched the game alongside Rafa Benitez.
Skrtel is now expected to line up alongside Jamie Carragher at White Hart Lane with Daniel Agger likely to need more time to recover from a back problem.
The former Zenit St Petersburg defender is determined to end the club’s long wait for the Premier League crown.
“Last season we beat Man United home and away, beat Chelsea home and away and drew with Arsenal home and away,” Skrtel said.
“Our problem was dropping points against the other teams like Stoke home and away, West Ham and Hull at Anfield.
“This season we have to try and improve these small details. If we can do that while still beating the top teams, we’ll be even better this time.”
Meanwhile, Benitez was keeping his fingers crossed that his players returned to Melwood today in good shape after international duty.
Fernando Torres and Albert Riera were both on target as Spain rallied from 2-0 down at the interval to win their friendly in Macedonia 3-2.
Torres’ header started the fightback and Riera got the winner as the Spanish netted three times in four minutes.
Torres and keeper Pepe Reina both started the game. Torres played 64 minutes and Reina made way for Diego Lopez two minutes later, while Riera was a second half substitute.
Glen Johnson played the full 90 minutes in England’s 2-2 draw with Holland.
Dirk Kuyt scored for the Dutch early on and Ryan Babel came on after the break.
Javier Mascherano skippered Argentina to a 3-2 win over Russia in Moscow and Yossi Benayoun played 55 minutes of Israel’s 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland.
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