Steven Gerrard

[madristar]

Hodgson plays down Gerrard injury

Roy Hodgson has allayed concerns over Steven Gerrard after the Liverpool captain appeared to sustain a leg injury against Wolves.

The Reds midfielder was seen clutching his calf on Wednesday night as Hodgson's side suffered a 1-0 defeat at Anfield.

Gerrard had been out of action since November after sustaining an injury while on international duty with England, and appeared to struggle in the latter stages of the clash.

But Hodgson told Liverpool's official website: "Luckily it's cramp, which wasn't good, but unfortunately because we were losing and because I was desperate to do something different and freshen up the team, I'd used up all my substitutes.

"Had I not done so, I would have taken him off."

After slipping to 12th in the table with their latest defeat, Liverpool face another test against in-form Bolton at Anfield on New Year's Day.

And Hodgson admits the demanding fixture list means he may be forced to make changes to his side.

"We've got some chances to freshen the team up and we'll have to continually do that anyway because there are so many games coming up," he said.

"With games every three days, you cannot expect them to play even if you wanted to."

[Aga]