Hodgson also revealed that Maxi Rodriguez will also miss out as the Reds carry a slender 1-0 aggregate lead to Turkey.
“Steven Gerrard unfortunately has had a recurrence of the back problem which he gets from time to time. Hopefully it won’t stop him playing on Sunday,” Hodgson told the club’s official website.
“The same applies to Agger for Sunday. He played in the game on Monday which was to some extent against medical advice. He wanted to play but felt a bit sick after the game. That’s mainly due to the concussion he suffered, so it would be foolish for us to risk him on Thursday.
“With Fernando Torres we’ve made the decision that we don’t wish to risk him three games in a row at this stage of the season with him having done so well to get back this quickly.
“Maxi is sick. He’s in bed at the moment with a bit of gastroenteritis, so he’s out of the question.”
