Roy Hodgson is set to rely on his youngsters as Liverpool get their Europa League campaign underway on Thursday with a third qualifying round first-leg clash against Macedonian outfit FK Rabotnicki (Liverpool 2/9, Rabotnicki 9/1, draw 4/1 – 90 Minutes) in Skopje.

The former Fulham boss, who took charge at Anfield earlier this month, has opted not to risk the majority of the Reds’ senior players in what is his first competitive game in charge of the club.

Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Lucas, David Ngog and new recruit Milan Jovanovic are the only experienced players who could be on show.

However, England quartet Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson have not travelled, despite returning to training since last week.

Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez only came back this week while Fernando Torres, Jose Reina, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel are still on holiday following their World Cup exploits.

So Diego Cavalieri, Martin Kelly, Stephen Darby and Jay Spearing are all set to feature against Rabotnicki and will be charged with keeping Liverpool’s Europa League bid (11/1 Outright) on track.

The likes of Jonjo Shelvey, Nathan Eccleston, Peter Gulacsi, David Amoo, Lauri Dalla Valle and Tom Ince have also travelled to Macedonia and could play a part.

Hodgson said: “It is not sink or swim – it would be very harsh to write off a player’s chances of becoming a good player on the evidence of a game.

“I think it is more an opportunity to swim than to fear for them sinking.

“But we are obliged to put our European fate into the hands of many inexperienced players.

“We can only hope that, because they have got talent, they will come through these ties against an experienced and well-versed team in European football like Rabotnicki.”

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