Torres ready to play for Merseyside derby

Merseyside: Fernando Torres is fit to feature in tomorrow's Merseyside derby after recovering from the adductor strain which caused him to be removed after just 10 minutes of Liverpool's 2-1 defeat to Blackpool.

Torres had been rated a doubt for the trip to Goodison Park after picking up the injury but returned to full training last week and Roy Hodgson, the Liverpool manager, admitted yesterday that the Spanish international, along with full-back Paul Konchesky, were ready to play.

"Konchesky has made a good recovery, as has Fernando Torres, so all being well, we can welcome those two back," he said.

"Fernando's season needs to kick-start, he's been hampered a bit by injuries and what happened at the World Cup, but we see a livelier and a better Fernando every day." Hodgson will be without forward Dirk Kuyt, who suffered ankle ligament damage while on international duty with Holland, and defender Daniel Agger, though he can seek solace in the fact that the former will not be out for as long as expected.

"The initial rumours were that it was going to be a really long injury, maybe months," Hodgson said. "But our doctor and our sports science people are much more optimistic. They think it is more likely to be one month — or, if we are lucky, three weeks. "Agger missed two weeks with the injury he picked up in the Sunderland game but he made a miraculous recovery in order to go and play for Denmark, where he got injured again. I don't know what the state of play is going to be for him yet."

The Danish international, though, is confident new treatment which he believes may have saved his career will enable him to recover from his back trouble rapidly.

"I have got new treatment for my back injury and if I had not got it, it could have threatened my career," he said.