Trabzonspor threat leaves Hodgson wary

A back injury means that Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool captain, does not play tonight.

Liverpool will be without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres for their Europa League play-off second leg against Trabzonspor in Turkey tonight. Gerrard, the captain, has a back problem, while manager Roy Hodgson has decided not to risk Torres, his Spain striker, in a third successive game following his injury problems last season.

However, both are expected to be fit for Sunday's Premier League clash with West Bromwich Albion. "Steven Gerrard unfortunately has had a recurrence of the back problem which he gets from time to time," Hodgson said. "Hopefully it won't stop him playing on Sunday. "With Fernando Torres we've made the decision that we don't wish to risk him three games in a row at this stage of the season with him having done so well to get back this quickly."

Javier Mascherano, the wantaway midfielder, was again omitted from the squad which travelled to Turkey yesterday with a 1-0 lead from the first leg, while Daniel Agger, the defender (concussion) and Maxi Rodriguez (illness) were also missing. "Agger played in the game on Monday [the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City] which was to some extent against medical advice," Hodgson said. "He wanted to play but felt a bit sick after the game. That's mainly due to the concussion he suffered [against Arsenal], so it would be foolish for us to risk him.

"Maxi is sick. He's in bed at the moment with a bit of gastroenteritis, so he's out of the question." Hodgson admits his side face a tough challenge against Trabzonspor after failing to put the match beyond reach at Anfield last week, with Joe Cole missing a penalty. "We missed a golden opportunity to kill the game off at Anfield and now we've got it all to do," the 62-year-old added. "It's going to be a very tough ask for the players in a difficult place.

"They are one of the two or three best teams in Turkey at the moment and Turkish football is of a very high standard. "Everyone who's been to Trabzon tells me it's a remarkably difficult place to play. They're a hostile and fanatic crowd and it's a difficult pitch. But if we come through it we'll come through it stronger." Manchester City entertain FC Timisoara, and are expected to make a number of changes from the side that beat Liverpool 3-0 in Monday night's Premier League game.

David Silva, Patrick Vieira and Shaun Wright-Phillips, all unused substitutes against Liverpool, are expected to start along with forward Emmanuel Adebayor as Roberto Mancini, the manager rotates his squad. Meanwhile, Liverpool's fellow English clubs Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal will all be among the top seeds for tonight's Champions League draw in Monaco - but could still find themselves facing Real Madrid in the group stage thanks to the way the draw has been laid out.

The trio are among eight clubs in the top pot meaning they will avoid the likes of champions Inter Milan, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, last year's beaten finalists util at least the knockout stages. However Real are only in the second pot of eight clubs and would provide stiff opposition in the group phase, as would fellow Spanish side Valencia and Germany's Werder Bremen. Uefa's rules for the draw will see the 32 teams allocated into eight groups of four teams. Each group will contain a top seed, plus one club each from the second, third and fourth pots.

* Agencies