The Spain international has now scored 13 goals in 17 Barclays Premier League appearances and despite having missed nearly six weeks after a knee operation he is still the club’s top scorer.

Liverpool remain sixth, a point behind fourth-placed Tottenham, but Carragher believes a fit Torres will give them an extra dimension in their final 10 Barclays Premier League matches.

“Fernando has come back in and it goes without saying how much we have missed him,” said the defender.

“He is still our top scorer, the kind of special player who will make a difference.

“He’s a big, powerful lad, who is right up for the fight, and he’s ideally suited to English football. That’s why he’s done so well.

“It would be wrong to rely on just one man. After all, you never know, he could come back injured off international duty.

“Please God, that doesn’t happen, but he makes a big difference and you can see we are a much better team when he is with us.”

Just when it seemed Liverpool’s injury problems were over they have had three defenders injured in the last four days.

Martin Skrtel has been ruled out for several weeks after breaking a metatarsal in his right foot against Unirea Urziceni on Thursday while Fabio Aurelio limped off with a thigh injury against Blackburn and Daniel Agger’s knee problem meant he left Anfield on crutches yesterday.

The good news is that right-back Glen Johnson’s recovery from a knee injury could see him make his first appearance since December 29 at Wigan a week today.

“Glen will be back soon, maybe in time for Wigan, and things are looking a bit more rosy,” Carragher told the Liverpool Echo.

“You talk about having a squad but we’ve got our big players back.”