LONDON, May 15 – Hull City midfielder, Jake Livermore is facing a lengthy ban after testing positive for cocaine.
Livermore failed a random drug test following Hull’s 2-0 win at Crystal Palace last month.
Livermore – the £8million signing who has started all but one of Hull’s league games this season – will not feature for the Tigers during their two remaining matches at former club Tottenham Hotspur and at home to Manchester United.
Steve Bruce’s side are currently third from bottom and need at least two points to stand any chance of survival.
The 25-year-old came through the academy at Tottenham and made his England debut against in a 2-1 win over Italy in August 2012
He signed for Hull in a club-record fee of £8million last season and has been a key part of Bruce’s side since.
On Friday, Bruce spoke of his side’s desperate need for a result at White Hart Lane this weekend to ensure survival in the Premier League.
“All we can do is give ourselves a chance. Can we come out fighting? Can we go out there and produce a performance? I’m quietly confident that we can do those things to get a result,”Bruce said.
“We need to get a result at Tottenham to keep the fight alive and if we do that then we give ourselves a chance.
Let’s hope there is another twist. The history of this club shows that we never do things the easy way. We had to go through an unbelievable day to get into the Premier League a couple of years ago and let’s hope that next weekend we do exactly the same.”
Bruce has no new injury concerns but must once again decide whether to risk Nikica Jelavic from the start as the Croatian continues to make a slow recovery from a knee injury.
David Meyler is also pushing for a recall to the Hull side while Mohamed Diame and Gaston Ramirez are ruled out for the rest of the season through injury.
-by Dailymail-