Tomkins may be out for a month
Speaking at his morning presser the manager said: “James Tomkins got injured in the Southampton game, he felt it before during the warm up but he said he was OK.
“At half-time he said he was OK but shortly after that it went, it’s a calf injury. He has a scan this morning, so after that we’ll know more. It’s probably a few weeks if we are lucky, maybe more. It’ll be two to four weeks.”
And that means Joey O’Brien is almost 100 per cent guaranteed to start tomorrow and suggests that Sam Byram could continue to be involved in Premier League action. He said: “We are OK, Sam is OK for the Premier League and also Joey O’Brien is back after a long absence. Of course he is a good player, his quality was never in doubt.
“Losing Tomkins is a big blow for us but we have options. It’s good we got Sam after what happened to Carl Jenkinson and with Joey we are well covered.” On the replay he declared: “We have played Liverpool many, many times, this is the third in a short space of time. They were different line ups every time.
Whoever they play, they have good players, they are all Liverpool players. We are well prepared for whatever team they come with. I don’t see it as a big problem.”