Riera and Benayoun will be out for up to a month

The injury crisis at Liverpool goes on. Rafa Benitez was informed yesterday that midfield duo Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera, who both pulled up in Monday's Premier League clash with Birmingham, will be out for up to a month with torn hamstrings. And the pain was not confined to the midfield: two first-choice defenders, Glen Johnson and Daniel Agger, are also injured.

Riera had missed the five games leading into Monday night's draw with a previous hamstring problem, and the loss of the Spanish winger to a new complaint in the same place seems particularly cruel. Benayoun (above) will be particularly missed: the Israeli winger had been one of the few players to thrive over the period when the team has been beset by poor form and injuries, thus confirming that luck is in scant supply at Anfield this season.

Should Fernando Torres's rehabilitation from his adductor injury overrun beyond the international break, then Liverpool face the prospect of playing Manchester City and local rivals Everton in the Premier League, and a must-win game against Debrecen in the Champions League, with just Steven Gerrard fit from their attacking midfielders - and he's had well-publicised problems recently.

Benitez has also had to watch in horror as Johnson and Agger have been stepped down from international duty through injury. Johnson left the England camp citing calf problems, while the Dane pulled out of friendlies against South Korea and the United States with a long-term back complaint.

One man at Anfield who has benefitted from all the problems has been the Argentinean left back Emiliano Insua. The 20-year-old defender has become a regular first-teamer due to injuries to Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena, and has made 16 appearances already this season, notching up his first Liverpool goal in the Carling Cup defeat at Arsenal. Insua is hoping that his club form will bring him into contention to be picked for his national team for the World Cup.

"I want to play in South Africa next year, but Liverpool comes first and if I play well for my club, then I hope that more games for Argentina will follow," he told the Liverpool Daily Post. "It's been a very good season for me but I want to play more."