The 24-year old, who has twenty Premier League goals this season, pulled up midway through the second half of the Reds 3-2 victory over Manchester City just over a fortnight ago. Although scans revealed that the injury was far worse than first expected, Sturridge has only recently returned to full training, leaving question marks regarding his match fitness and how likely the injury is to recur.
“We will see,” Rodgers told reporters in his pre-match press conference when asked if Sturridge would return to the starting line-up on Sunday. “We’ll give it another 24 hours. He’s working hard with the medical team, so we shall see.”
The former Chelsea man has formed an explosive partnership with fellow striker Luis Suarez this season and one only needs to look at the top scorer list for proof; between them, they’ve scored 50 of Liverpool’s 96 goals this season. Still, even if the 24-year old isn’t fit, Rodgers believes the Reds have a great chance of taking full points. “But if he’s not fit, we’ve coped before. We’ve managed before without a number of players” explained the Northern Irishman. “We’ll go into the game with confidence. We’ll assess that over the next 24 hours.”
