Source: Telegraph
Steven Gerrard poised for early return to Liverpool side
Gerrard tore the muscle in his left leg in the Merseyside derby defeat against Everton on February 4 and was ruled out by the club's medics for three weeks, with next week's Champions League date with Real Madrid pencilled in as his most likely return.[LNB]But Benitez believes the injury has responded so well his club captain may be available for a place on the bench for City's visit to Anfield on Sunday.[LNB]He said: "He is improving. In these situations each day is important. Normally he is a player who recovers quickly, who needs less time than other players. Maybe he could be on the bench against City but we don't know. He wants to play every game and he knows it is an important one, but so is Real Madrid."[LNB]Benitez will be relieved Gerrard has reacted better to treatment than his team-mate Fernando Torres, who has arguably still not played a single Premier League game this season fully fit after a succession of hamstring injuries.[LNB]But Jamie Carragher feels Liverpool should be proud of the fact they have managed to stay in touch with Manchester United at the top of the table, even leapfrogging Chelsea and Arsenal as the Old Trafford side's principal rivals, without the man he believes is the best striker in the world.[LNB]Carragher said: "Fernando is the best forward in the league, if not the world, so to be where we are already after playing so much of the season without him is a great credit to the lads, staff and management.[LNB]"It would be interesting to see how other teams would cope without having such an important player on the sidelines for so long.[LNB]"We finished fourth last season but we have overtaken Chelsea and Arsenal and even though it's not over yet by a long way, it looks it will be us and Manchester United for the title, and that's an achievement in itself we should be proud of.[LNB]"A lot of people said at the start of the season we needed to be in with a fighting chance at the end of the season and now hopefully we can go one step further and win this title." [LNB]
