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Adam Lallana was not one of the stand out performers for Liverpool on Sunday as his team gave a poor first-half performance against Manchester United before showing a spark of life only after going down a man. A collision in the first half with Phil Jones left many with the impression that the midfielder may have sustained a head injury, and his substitution at the half in favour of a volcanic Steven Gerrard only served to further this theory.
The jury is still out on whether or not Lallana did indeed sustain a head injury — his failure to finish a scoring chance soon after going head to head with Jones is a point in favour for many — but a variety of sources reported post-match that Lallana had in fact secured a groin strain that will put him out of contention for Roy Hodgson's England side this coming weekend.
It's a disappointing setback for the player as it's not his first injury layoff this season, although certainly this one looks to be far shorter than the one he began the season with. Lallana is set to have a scan today to confirm the extent of the damage, but initial estimates suggest he'll be out for at least two weeks.
A Liverpool player getting injured before the international break rather than during it is a fun new development, but for once the long gap between Premier League matches might have a decent silver lining. Time to recover without missing any matches of importance is a luxury at this point in the season, but Liverpool will still want to be cautious and avoid rushing Lallana back if he's not yet fully mended by the time Liverpool take on Arsenal the first weekend of April.
