Carragher injury fuels misery for Hodgson

Carragher will be out for around six weeks (GETTY IMAGES)

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher dislocated his shoulder in the 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur yesterday, and is likely to be out for up to six weeks. Carragher landed awkwardly after challenging for an aerial ball with Tottenham striker Peter Crouch. Manager Roy Hodgson, who is already without captain Steven Gerrard after a hamstring injury, admitted the team will miss "our talismanic centre half".

Hodgson added: "We think it's a dislocated shoulder. I don't know how long he'd be out, but it's a serious injury. We'll miss his leadership skills, and we've got [Daniel] Agger still injured and we're not overly blessed with centre-halves."

The injury to Carragher compounded a miserable day for Hodgson, who had seen his side take the lead through Martin Skrtel but lose out on the points when Skrtel later put through his own net and Aaron Lennon scored in stoppage time.

Hodgson said: "I'm finding it hard at the moment to come to terms that we have to go away with no points. The result's not going to change, though, with me being disappointed. Lennon's goal came at a time when we had had to reorganise our defence with Jamie off with his dislocated shoulder. It was cruel to come away with nothing having lost our talismanic centre-half, and then paid the price for not dealing with a routine long ball."

Tottenham lost two players to injury – Rafael van der Vaart suffered a torn hamstring which could potentially rule him out for a month and Younes Kaboul came off with a sore hip. The Spurs manager, Harry Redknapp, said: "Rafa's torn a hamstring – he felt it tear – so that doesn't look too good. Younes felt he might have torn a muscle in his hip. He felt that go."

The victory, which leaves Tottenham six points behind leaders Manchester United, completed a remarkable week for Redknapp's side who won 3-2 at Arsenal last weekend and then qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 3-0 victory over Werder Bremen.

Redknapp said: "It was a great performance to come back from one down with two early injuries that had left us unbalanced. We got on top in that second half and had lots of good chances. I felt we deserved the win. We just feel we have attacking players so we'll get chances. You can't write us off. We're always in with a chance, even if we're 1-0 down."

Tottenham missed a second-half penalty when Jermain Defoe fired wide of the goal after Liverpool's David Ngog handled the ball in the defensive wall. Defoe, who has now missed eight of his last 13 penalties, only took the kick because Van der Vaart was off the pitch. Redknapp said: "It's amazing for Jermain, such a fantastic goalscorer, he's not a great penalty taker, is he? He takes them in training and rattles them in, bang into the corners. It might be an idea for the ref just to give a goal-kick."

Redknapp repeated his claim that Tottenham could win the Premier League, although he admitted his players are not so convinced. "It's not impossible. It's wide open. Of course we've got a chance," he said. "Chelsea, a month ago, looked absolute certainties but they're struggling to get results. They'll get stronger when they get some key players back, but so will we. I don't know if the players believe it. Chelsea and United are favourites, but nothing's impossible."