Liverpool faces an anxious wait over the fitness of Martin Kelly after he was sent home from England U21 duty with a groin problem.
The 21-year-old defender played 90 minutes for Stuart Pearce’s side as they beat Iceland 3-0 in Rekjavik in their Euro 2013 qualifier on Thursday night.
But he complained of tightness in his groin afterwards and, after consulting with the England medical staff, it was decided that he should return to Merseyside as a precautionary measure.
Kelly will now miss England’s trip to Drammen to play Norway on Monday night, and will be assessed by Liverpool’s own medical team ahead of next Saturday’s Premier League clash with Manchester United at Anfield.
Reds boss Kenny Dalglish will hope the problem is not serious. Kelly has been beset by injuries since making his first senior start for the Reds in a Champions League clash with Lyon in October 2009.
He was injured that day, and missed the back-end of last season after suffering a hamstring injury at West Ham back in February.
On his return, against Bolton in August, he was substituted after just half-an-hour with another hamstring problem, but has since started each of Liverpool’s last three fixtures.
Dalglish could have England right-back Glen Johnson and Brazilian Fabio Aurelio back available for the visit of Alex Ferguson’s Premier League leaders.
Johnson has managed just nine minutes of action this season due to a persistent hamstring problem, whilst Aurelio has been sidelined with a thigh complaint.
Both returned to full training last week, and hope to be available for selection next weekend.
“I'm feeling good at the moment and I've been doing plenty of running,” Johnson said.
“I've just started doing ball work outside in training so I reckon it won't be too long now.
“I'm working hard and it would be nice to be back in the squad for the Man United game. Hopefully I can make the bench anyway, so fingers crossed.”
Daniel Agger, however, is not expected to recover from his rib injury in time to face Alex Ferguson’s men.
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