Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is hospital-bound again with kidney stones and is set for surgery on Wednesday.
The Reds manager will undergo a third operation on troublesome kidney stones on Wednesday, leaving his assistant to lead training.
Reds No.2 Sammy Lee is hopeful Benitez will be back at Melwood in time to oversee final preparations for next week's clashes with Everton.
Lee told the club's official website: "It's a difficult time for him because, you know Rafa Benitez - all he wants to do is be out there on the training pitch with his players. That's his forte. But he's still buoyant.
"He's going for the third operation but we're hoping it won't keep him out for too long - hopefully just a couple of days.
"All credit to Rafa for what he's put in place. His attention to detail and organisation means that, if any one of us is missing, there won't be a blip."
Benitez underwent his first operation back in December, returning to the dressing room when Bolton visited Anfield on Boxing Day.
Since then the Spaniard has taken his place in the stands to watch matches from the directors' box.
Lee added: "You certainly get a different view of things up there - but he sees things that I don't when we're both on ground level, so there's no difference there!"
Meanwhile, Lee echoed the view of winger Albert Riera that Liverpool's disappointment following Saturday's Stoke stalemate was a measure of how far they had come.
He said: "That's the measure of this team at the moment - that we go away from home and get a point in the Premier League and we're disappointed. Devastated is a bit strong but the lads were bitterly disappointed.
"We go for all three points but we have to take the positives. The game didn't transpire how we would have liked - we had control and we lost it.
But the positives, for me, were that we got a point and we didn't concede from the many, many set pieces that they had."
The weekend ended with Liverpool four points clear at the top following Manchester United's 3-0 win over Chelsea.
Asked whether Chelsea were now out of the title race, Lee said: "A lot of pundits have said there's only one team that can win the league - and I don't buy into that, either. You can't rule teams out in January.
"We can't keep looking over our shoulders. We've got to do what we've got to do."
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