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Kolo Toure is confident he will shake off his groin injury in time to face Swansea City next week.

And in doing so, the Ivorian defender is to hand manager Brendan Rodgers a major selection headache for Monday night’s game at the Liberty Stadium.

Martin Skrtel stepped in for the injured Toure against Manchester United at Anfield last week after the former Manchester City man was stretchered off during extra-time in Liverpool’s Capital One Cup tie with Notts County.

Skrtel produced an impressive performance against the Premier League champions in only his second league start since March.

Toure has made an instant impact since arriving on a free transfer in the summer and helped guide Liverpool to clean sheets in their opening two games of the season.

The 32-year-old quickly formed a partnership with vice-captain Daniel Agger to help fill the void left by the retired Jamie Carragher.

Rodgers had hailed the early season form of Toure and Agger but Skrtel’s display in the 1-0 win over arch-rivals United will have given him food for thought.

Rodgers said: “Kolo is the type of character that I love in a back four, an organiser and a leader.

“I think whether he’s playing with Daniel or whether he’s playing with Martin Skrtel, you need that leadership.

“Daniel’s a wonderful talent, he’s an international captain, he’s one of the best left-sided players in the world, so it’s two experienced players, but it’s important that you play together, and they’ve held us together really well.”

Toure was in training at Melwood yesterday with the rest of the Liverpool squad not away on international duty.

The on-loan Aly Cissokho remains sidelined with ankle injury but is now able to move around without the aid of crutches.