Three confirmed absences for Aberdeen as Gerrard prepares for quarter

Steven Gerrard has today effectively confirmed three absences for tomorrow night’s cup replay with Aberdeen, while one absence from Friday returns.

Along with long-term absentees Graham Dorrans and Jamie Murphy, recently-injured Gareth McAuley’s pulled hamstring continues to hinder him and the Northern Irish international will not be available for selection tomorrow, giving Gerrard the usual three centre backs to select from.

Meanwhile, Croat Borna Barisic will return from illness and likely be included in the 18-man squad for the visit of Derek McInnes’ men, with the obvious dilemma over whether or not he or Andy Halliday will occupy that left back berth for the quarter.

Otherwise it’s a continuingly fit squad, with the blight of injuries that peppered the earlier season seemingly clearing up at a very opportune time with the split just round the corner.

That said, as we alluded to in our earlier piece, that issue at the back with McAuley’s absence could pave the way for a very useful emergency signing given three defenders really isn’t a lot of depth for such a critical time of the season.

But at least the injuries overall are now at an incredibly low level.