Ryan Babel was also substituted early on after suffering an ankle injury in a collision with Steven Gerrard, and all three are now doubts for tomorrow’s must-win Champions League clash in Hungary against Debrecen.

Fernando Torres will not travel to Budapest as he recovers from his groin problem with Benitez admitting the striker could yet miss Sunday’s Goodison derby.

“We thought it’d be two or three weeks and he’s only about 12 or 13 days into that, so there’s no point in him going,” said Benitez.

“The next few days will decide whether he will be fit for Everton, but at this moment there are no guarantees.”

Gerrard made his first league start in seven weeks at the weekend, and Benitez added: “Stevie has been training this week, but was coming back from three weeks without any. One week sometimes isn’t enough, especially when you have to recover afterwards.

“I asked him how he was about 15 minutes from the end, and he said he had a few cramps. In the last few minutes he was struggling, but he’s okay.”

Of Saturday’s game, Benitez said: “I think we deserved more from the game at the end. I didn’t see Pepe Reina having to make too many saves.

“I am really pleased with the efforts of all the players, they were working hard to try and get the win right to the end. You can make mistakes but you have to be pleased with their character. If we win one or two, things will get easier.

“Over the last three games you could see we are doing a lot better. Against Birmingham there was a massive, massive positive difference. Saturday was the same – we got a very good reaction.”