Torres could start versus Manchester City

Roy Hodgson is pondering whether to give Fernando Torres his first start of the season at Eastlands tonight.

Liverpool's No.9 gave an encouraging performance during his 45-minute outing in Thursday's 1-0 win over Trabzonspor at Anfield, and the boss admits he was impressed by his fitness.

   "I thought Fernando looked very good against Trabzonspor and he will be all the better for the 45 minutes.

"He almost scored with his first touch of the ball and we are really pleased that Fernando is back. We know what he can produce and he didn't look like he was short of fitness.

"He showed he is back to his best and his energy and enthusiasm were vital for us. It did make a difference but when you have players of his class it does make a difference.

"We know what we've got in Fernando and it's really nice to see him back. It's important now we manage his fitness because it's quite early for him to be playing now.

"We have got until Monday until we play again so those days will do him good.

"Luckily we were able to rest some important players against Trabzonspor so we will have a lot of them coming back in on Monday night. It was a bit of a gamble in some ways but we won the game.

"They have had a longer rest and that is advantageous to us. We will have on paper at least a stronger team than what we had out on Thursday." the boss told Liverpoolfc.tv.

Hodgson will make changes after rotating his resources in last Thursday's 1-0 Europa League victory against Trabzonspor at Anfield.

Martin Skrtel, Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt are all expected to start having been rested in midweek, while Liverpool are hopeful Javier Mascherano will recover from a calf injury.

Hodgson, though, will make a late decision on Daniel Agger, who suffered concussion in last week's 1-1 home draw with Arsenal, and is contemplating a first start of the season for Fernando Torres, the Spaniard having come through 45 minutes against Trabzonspor.

Definitely absent will be Joe Cole, the midfielder beginning a three-match suspension following his red card against Arsenal eight days ago.

Christian Poulsen made his debut for Liverpool last week following his arrival from Juventus, and Hodgson believes the Denmark midfielder is capable of appearing this evening.

Source: LiverpoolFC.tv, Daily Post UK

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