One player eager for an outing is Fernando Torres. The Spaniard made his first Liverpool appearance since April as a late substitute on Sunday, but is likely to remain on the bench this evening.

“Fernando is very keen,” says Hodgson. “If we decide he should start the game he would be ready to do so. He’s training and working hard and when I ask him how he’s doing he says he’s fine.

“Could he play on Thursday and against City? I don’t know if he is up to two games in four days. I would think he could do that though. He’s worked very hard since he rejoined with us. He has worked hard with the physical conditioning people.

“But what we must remember with Fernando, Pepe Reina, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel are they are doing something of a pre-season with games going on around them. We have to not be blinded by the fact they are three to four weeks behind.”

Christian Poulsen, though, could be in line for a debut following his move from Juventus last week.

“He has had a pre-season with Juventus,” says Hodgson. “He started shortly after us. But the Italian clubs, because they start their season later on, they start by taking the players into the mountains and running them into the ground.

“Then three weeks before the season starts, they get the ball out, do some tactical work and play some games. Christian has done his running but hasn’t done much playing. The only question is whether he is capable of playing a match.”

TONIGHT’S officials are Austrian, Thomas Einwaller the referee.

PROBABLE TEAMS.

LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Aurelio; Poulsen, Lucas; Rodriguez, Cole, Jovanovic; Babel.

TRABZONSPOR (4-3-3): Kivrak; Cale, Glowacki, Korkmaz, Balci; Colman, Alanzinho, Gulselam; Inan, Yilmaz, Gutierrez.