By Brian Lee

PUBLISHED: 04:41 EST, 12 September 2013 | UPDATED: 05:36 EST, 12 September 2013

Liverpool have been handed some good news after Glen Johnson revealed his injury is not as bad as they initially thought.

Johnson injured his ankle in the 1-0 victory over Manchester United and there were fears he could be out until Christmas after the defender left Anfield on crutches.

Liverpool physios have been made to wait for detailed results from a scan as his ankle was severely swollen.

Crunch point: Glen Johnson injured his ankle in this collision with United defender Patrice Evra

Liverpool's forthcoming fixtures

SEPTEMBER
v Swansea (A) Sept 16    
v Southampton (H) Sept 21
v Man United (A) Sept 25    
v Sunderland (A) Sept 29    

OCTOBER
v Crystal Palace (H) Oct 5
v Newcastle (A) Oct 19
v West Brom (H) Oct 26

NOVEMBER
v Arsenal (A) Nov 2
v Fulham (H) Nov 9
v Everton (A) Nov 23

DECEMBER
v Hull (A) Dec 1
v Norwich (H) Dec 4
v West Ham (H) Dec 7
v Tottenham (A) Dec 15
v Cardiff (H) Dec 21

Johnson was on Twitter on Thursday morning to say: 'Injury doesn't seem as bad as first thought, hopefully be back sooner than originally expected. Thank you everyone for the 'Get well' messages.'

He missed the England World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine.

Daniel Sturridge also missed the England games with a thigh strain and Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is sweating on the striker's fitness.

Rodgers will be desperate for him to return as Sturridge has scored five goals this season, with three in the Barclays Premier League and two in the Capital One Cup against Notts County.

The forward, who has scored nine in his last eight games in the Premier League, aggravated the injury against United.

Liverpool lead the top flight as the only team with a 100 per cent record and are next in action at Swansea on Monday night.

Panic stations? Johnson feared he would miss a huge chunk of Liverpool's season with his injury

Panic stations? Johnson feared he would miss a huge chunk of Liverpool's season with his injury

Sweating on Sturridge: Liverpool also have concerns over the fitness of their in-form forward

Sweating on Sturridge: Liverpool also have concerns over the fitness of their in-form forward

Perfect start: Rodgers' side have taken maximum points from their opening three games this season

Perfect start: Rodgers' side have taken maximum points from their opening three games this season

The comments below have not been moderated.

just lookin at the fixtures.. we don,t have a difficult game until the new year.... we must have a chance at 5th place this year.. maybe even 4th...? or 3rd...? 2nd...? surely we can,t win the damn thing .. can we?

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wouldn,t it be lovely if by a strange sequence of results we were still top or even joint top by the time we visit swansea ? and i,m a crystal palace supporter on saturday.. he he he.. with city away man u,s next opponents i will be rooting for palace to create an upset... can just see it now ! " man united on 4 points after 5 games .. fans call for moyes sack! " he he he

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Suspicious how sturridge keeps getting injured when it comes to playing with England. - Zfarfan , London, 12/9/2013 14:22 Does he? The last injury I remember was one playing for England in a pointless game against ROI after the season had finished whilst a lot of other players were already off on their holidays because of "injuries". That injury meant he missed virtually all of Liverpools pre-season and possibly ended up contributing to him getting injured this time.

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Great news.

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theres a surprise

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Utd players have been "injured" for international games then fit for next club games for years on end....media's reaction? nothing, totally supportive of their beloveds. Liverpool player does it and medias' reaction? mayhem. When oh when are Liverpool going to start playing hardball with the media?

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HURRAY

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Just make sure you get back fully fit - if it means missing the next 2 internationals that is absolutely fine.

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Sturridge was ruled out of the England game by ENGLANDS medical team, so all these brain dead people saying he deliberately missed it should stop following football and concentrate on reality tv with the rest of the pond life.

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Suspicious how sturridge keeps getting injured when it comes to playing with England.

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