Today it was announced that Liverpool’s inspirational captain Steven Gerrard has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a groin injury. The skipper joins Daniel Agger, Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly on the sidelines as Liverpool’s spirited second half of the season charge up the table looks to have hit a brick wall. The Reds still harbour faint hopes of a top four finish, and return to the Champions League next season, but face an uphill climb due to their rapidly growing injury list and defeat to West Brom last weekend. Liverpool are currently sixth in the Premier League table, 10 points behind fourth placed Chelsea, having played a game more. Dalglish’s men still have to play Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Aston Villa and are outsiders to finish in the top four at 25/1 with Skybet.

Liverpool host fellow Champions League chasers Manchester City on Monday night and anything less than a win will rule out any hopes of a top four finish for the Merseyside club. Skybet have Liverpool at 11/8 to win, with Man City priced at 11/5 to pull off a win at Anfield, and whilst a draw is 9/5.

This was clearly evident when the Merseyside club spent nearly £60m in the January transfer market, spending £23m on the exciting Uruguian striker Luiz Suarez and then shocking the football world by breaking the transfer record for a British player when they paid £35m for Andy Carroll. The Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, has also publically stated that Dalglish is the man to spearhead Liverpool’s revival and make them serious title contenders.

However, the tides can change very quickly in football. If Liverpool were to lose a few games on the spin then Dalglish’s credentials would be meticulously examined. Liverpool’s defeat to Braga in the Europa League may just have sparked the end of his honeymoon period with the club. Should Liverpool choose not to extend the Scot’s six-month contract this summer then there are a plethora of managers waiting in the wings.

The former Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill is the current favourite to take over from Kenny Dalglish, and is available with Paddy Power at 9/1. The bookies also offer the same odds for Jose Mourinho, who said only last week that he would love to return to the Premier League. There has recently been talk of the former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez – who is also linked with Aston Villa – returning to the club in the summer. The Spaniard has reportedly said it would be his ‘dream’ to manage Liverpool once again and Paddy Power have him at 25/1 to do so.

Will Terry be leading England in South Africa?

We are just a few months away from the opening game of England’s World Cup campaign against the USA in Rustenburg but Fabio Capello is already facing his first selection headache, its not whether or not David Beckham should be in the squad or whether Michael Owen has done enough to be on the plane as he was expecting it to be in the build up to South Africa. Of course the Italian is now faced with the tough decision over whether or not to keep John Terry as the Captain of the England Team in the light of recent allegations about an extra marital affair with the former girlfriend of Wayne Bridge.

Terry has been plastered all over the front and back of the tabloids for days now and there is no sign of the speculation dying down anytime soon, this has left Fabio Capello with a tough and perhaps crucial decision to make over his future. The FA have said that it is Capello’s decision as to what happens with Terry but they are also under pressure to act on the matter with public interest growing by the second, they and Capello will want to clear the whole mess up as quickly as possible with the World Cup looming an a friendly against Egypt on the horizon at the start of March.

The main issue surely lies in one question and that is; Have John Terry’s actions affected morale within the England Camp? There is no better man that Capello to answer that question and it is almost impossible to form an opinion on that unless speaking to other squad members as well as the coaching staff which Capello is bound to do. Capello has been a strong disciplinarian since taking th England job and that is not a good sign for JT, Capello may well want to show a sign of force and that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated by any member of the squad in a World Cup year. Having said that, Capello thought Terry was the man for the job when he took over and he may want to back his man all the way in the hope that the whole mess will blow over in a couple of weeks, that of course is a huge risk if their is discontent within the ranks as being reported.

Only Capello will know if he was going to select Bridge as the second left-back in the World Cup squad and that will now need careful consideration, if Terry and Bridge do play together in an England shirt then the press interest will be huge every time they pass the ball to each other. It will be a big shame if Wayne Bridge retires from England duty as a result of this scandal as is being reported, but with the World Cup just around the corner but there may be no other option for the former Chelsea player who has said he will not be commenting on the scandal at any stage. There are several names in the frame to replace John Terry in the Next England Captain Betting with Steven Gerrard the obvious choice to replace him, Rio Ferdinand is another choice but has proven injury prone this season, an interesting outside bet would be Wayne Rooney who is in great form and may relish the chance to lead the side.

Wayne Bridge is a well liked player by all accounts and if senior England players are upset with John Terry then Capello will have no choice but to strip the Chelsea Captain of the national armband, Capello is set to make his decision in the next few days and the Sack Race like all England fans will be watching the story with interest. This could well be the biggest moment in the England career of Fabio Capello, the wrong decision from the Gaffer here and the World Cup hopes of a nation could go down the drain.