Hyypia set to miss Merseyside derby

Liverpool skipper Sami Hyypia is expected to be banned from the most important Mersey derby in years following his red card at Old Trafford.

As if losing their influential defender after just four minutes of Saturday’s 4-0 defeat by Manchester United was not bad enough, the loss of Hyypia for the April 19 clash with Everton at Goodison Park is just as damaging.

Liverpool expect to be officially informed that Hyypia’s red card for bringing down Ruud van Nistelrooy, for the first of the Dutchman’s two penalties, will be for a professional foul and constitute just a one-match ban two weeks after the offence was committed.

But to lose Hyypia from the derby showdown with Everton and Wayne Rooney means Liverpool will now work desperately to get Stephane Henchoz fit.

The Swiss defender is expected back by mid-April from a thigh injury and a couple of reserve games between now and the Goodison clash could be utilised to test Henchoz’s fitness.

Otherwise Liverpool will be left with only Djimi Traore and Igor Biscan in the heart of their defence to face Everton.

In an emergency Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard can deputise in those central positions.

Despite the United and Hyypia body blows, plus Chelsea’s win at Sunderland that opened up a five point gap between Liverpool and fourth place in the Barclaycard Premiership, boss Gerard Houllier refuses to write off the chances of qualifying for the Champions League.

He said: “This hasn’t ended our hopes, not at all. We have six games to go, three at home and three away, and we’ll look to win them all. We know what we have to do.

“The United result is in the past now and we are looking forward to the rest of our matches. We have never lost two games in a row this term.”

Liverpool’s genuine chances of success at Old Trafford were wrecked by that fourth minute sending-off, and it was also a bitter blow for Milan Baros.

Czech Baros, deputising for the injured Michael Owen after waiting patiently for his chance, found himself sacrificed to allow Biscan onto the field to help shore up Liverpool’s defence.

Houllier has admitted it was a difficult decision to substitute Baros, who had barely touched the ball before the tactical re-shuffle.

Houllier claimed he had to decide whether it would be Baros or Emile Heskey who made way to accommodate the change.

Houllier said: “It was tough, yes, but he understood the decision. I had to take one of the strikers off and I felt Emile offered us more from a defensive point of view than Milan.

“From set-pieces I felt Emile would be more dangerous in both attack and defence. Plus, Milan played two international games in the week whereas Emile was left out against Turkey so I thought Heskey would be a bit fresher.”

But Houllier admitted the defeat was a serious body blow.

He said: “It was a bad afternoon. The match changed after four minutes when we conceded a penalty and had our captain and centre-half sent off.

“It is always difficult to get a result at Old Trafford and to play 86 minutes of the game with 10 against 11 was always going to be difficult.

“I was pleased with the effort of the players who for an hour held United, but the second penalty killed us and affected the morale of the team.

“Don’t forget this 10 versus 11 comes on the back of two internationals.”