Lucas hopeful on fitness

Liverpool's injured midfielder Lucas Leiva is hopeful he will be fit again for the start of next season.

Brazilian aiming to be fit for the start of next term

Liverpool's injured midfielder Lucas Leiva is hopeful he will be fit again for the start of next season. The Brazil international has not played for the Reds after suffering a campaign-ending knee injury in their Carling Cup success at Chelsea at the back end of November. Lucas is an integral member of manager Kenny Dalglish's team and results have declined during his absence, even more so since the turn of the year. The 25-year-old has now delivered an upbeat bulletin on his progress, stating his injury was so severe that it was never going to be a speedy return to action.

Hopeful

"My rehab is going well and hopefully I will be fit for next season," he wrote on his Twitter account. "It was a bad injury so I need to recover properly to be strong again." The pressure intensified on Dalglish on Saturday following a 2-1 defeat to Wigan at Anfield and Lucas has called on everyone to try and stay positive He continued: "I know everyone is disappointed about (Saturday's result), but we need to move on and keep working."