The England international was withdrawn from the Reds' 1-0 win at Bolton on Sunday with a hamstring injury, and was initially thought to be out for around two weeks.
But, following scans, Hodgson appeared confident that Cole could play a part against the club he was with for seven years prior to his free transfer to Anfield over the summer.
"With Cole it's not as bad as feared. It shouldn't keep him out for that long," Hodgson told the club's official website.
"I would say it's a week to 10-day injury. The scan was positive in that it's a very minor tear he has, but you can't really put a definite date on how long that tear is going to take to repair. But the physical people are very optimistic.
"It's a question of how quickly he can recover and what progress he can make.
"At the moment he's not even ruled out for the Chelsea game but we'll see how he goes later in the week."
Cole is a certainty to be an absentee for the visit of Napoli on Thursday in their Europa League group game at Anfield, but Glen Johnson could return to the fold.
In-form defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos however will not play a part after being withdrawn from training as a precaution.
"Kyrgiakos is feeling his groin slightly," Hodgson added.
"As a matter of caution we took him out of today's training session halfway
through to give him a bit of a rest."
Liverpool Specials 2010/11 Finishing Position: Liverpool to finish in the top 6
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