Adam Lallana and Mario Balotelli doubts for Liverpool v Newcastle United

Liverpool are expected to be without Adam Lallana and Mario Balotelli for the visit of Newcastle United, manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed.

Lallana has been out with a groin injury since withdrawing from England squad in March while Balotelli missed the FA Cup quarter-final replay against Blackburn Rovers through illness.

Though Jordon Ibe is expected to be named in the Liverpool matchday squad, none of the club's other injury victims are likely to be available for a game that comes less than a week before the crunch FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa.

"I don't think [Lallana] will be ready for Monday," Rodgers said. We'll just see how that goes into next week."

"We'll assess that over the next couple of days. He was injured [for] Arsenal so wasn't available. He's been ill since midweek and continues to be, so we'll see over the next 24 hours how that is."

Five players down

Steven Gerrard and Martin Skrtel will serve the final match of their three-game suspensions for incidents in the defeat to Manchester United, and with Mamadou Sakho out with a hamstring problem, Liverpool face being without five players for the Monday night fixture.

The Reds could be down to seventh and as many as eight points off the top four by kick-off, but Rodgers has already admitted Liverpool's hopes of finishing in a Champions League spot are optimistic.

Speaking after the 4-1 loss to Arsenal which followed defeat to United, the Northern Irishman said: "We have been dealt two big blows in these last two games, we haven't performed how we would like and that has ultimately cost us in terms of the result.

"I very much doubt we will be in the top four now come the end of the season. There's too much ground to make up – that's the realistic view from me. Now, we must really focus on the FA Cup and that has got to be very, very important for us."