England full back may now be back in action next month, rather than in November.
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Liverpool have received a huge boost with the news that key defender Glen Johnson’s ankle injury is not as bad as first feared, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
The England international suffered the problem playing against Premier League champions Manchester United at Anfield on Sept 1, with Johnson being carried off in the second half of the Reds’ 1-0 win after a crunching a tackle on Red Devils left-back Patrice Evra.
Johnson, 29, was helped off the pitch and was later seen leaving the ground on crutches, with initial estimates suggesting that the attacking right back could be out of action for as long an ten weeks.
However, despite the full back being forced to miss both of England’s recent FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Moldova at Wembley Stadium on Friday, followed by the trip to take on Group H rivals Ukraine in Kiev on Tuesday, Johnson has now revealed on Twitter that the injury is not as serious as first thought.
“Injury doesn’t seem as bad as first thought, hopefully be back sooner than originally expected. Thank you everyone for the ‘Get well’ messages,” Johnson said on Thursday morning.
Johnson, who needed to wait for the swelling on his injured ankle to first recede before the Reds’ medical staff could scan the area and ascertain the full extent of the problem, may now only be on the sidelines for between four and six weeks.