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Steven Gerrard will undergo surgery today that will rule him out of England’s two World Cup qualifying matches next month. Fresh from leading Liverpool into the group stage of the Champions League last night, the inspirational midfield player faces a routine operation on a niggling groin injury, the minor nature of which will be of little compensation to Fabio Capello.

Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, confirmed that Gerrard will spend between 10 and 15 days in recovery, which will force him to miss the matches against Andorra in Barcelona on Saturday week and, more critically, the clash with Croatia in Zagreb four days later.

With doubts already surrounding the fitness of a number of England players, including Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves, and with Capello yet to stumble upon a convincing system after five matches in charge, the loss of Gerrard represents a significant blow.

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Having aggravated the injury in the first leg of Liverpool’s Champions League third qualifying round fixture against Standard Liège, after which he featured in England’s 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic, Gerrard again played through the pain barrier last night. Dirk Kuyt scored two minutes from the end of extra time to secure a 1-0 aggregate win and a minimum £10 million windfall for his club.

“Of course I’m pleased with the result, but I’m disappointed also because Gerrard will have an operation tomorrow on a groin problem,” Benítez said. “We knew he would be like this, because he has had that problem for a while. He has to do this now, because he has pain and he had it when he went away with national team.

“We knew he had the problem in the first leg and yesterday our doctor talked about this situation. Steven said he would play with pain and afterwards he would have the operation. Today was OK, he kept going because he knows he’s going to the surgeon tomorrow. It’s not very serious. But he has pain, so we needed to do it.”

If Capello will be dismayed at the timing, then he can hardly argue with Liverpool’s decision, particularly if Gerrard played against the Czechs when not fully fit.

There was no such drama at the Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal sealed their place in today’s Champions League draw by thrashing FC Twente 4-0, winning 6-0 on aggregate. Theo Walcott scored a fine goal, boosting his England prospects in front of the watching Capello. Cesc Fàbregas made his return from injury against the Dutch side, who are managed by Steve McClaren, Capello’s predecessor as England head coach.

Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, was pleased with the performance after the surprise defeat by Fulham last weekend. “The response was clear, it was togetherness, focus and efficiency. The whole team was sharper,” Wenger said. “It was a big mental test.” McClaren was disappointed by his team’s showing. “Someone said it was the best time to play Arsenal after losing to Fulham. It was the worst time,” he said.