Less than 24-hours after guiding his side to a narrow victory over relegation threatened Sunderland, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was back in the press room waxing lyrical about Saturday’s trip to West Ham United and — as usual — providing a mixture of good and bad news on the injury front.
“Maybe Daniel [can play] if we try,” explained the Reds boss in his pre-match press call, hinting that Sturridge old could return to action for the first time since his 20-minute cameo appearance against Newcastle United in November. “Milner and Origi no,” he continued. “Joe Allen is ill. Yesterday afternoon the doctor told me we have to send him home so we have to wait for diagnosis there.”
While there’s really no surprise that both Milner, who has a mystery calf problem, and Origi, who pulled a hamstring in the win over Leicester City, remain on the sidelines, the news that Sturridge could play a part is a bit surprising. The 26-year old has been undergoing a “mini-preason” in an attempt to get his fitness back on par and prevent any further niggling muscle injuries. Whether or not he’ll feature is anyone’s guess, but after limping out of the meeting with the Black Cats, it’s highly unlikely that club captain Jordan Henderson will make the trip to Upton Park.
“I have no update now. We have to wait a little bit because it was something with the heel but it could good for him we all hope. We have to see,” explained Klopp. “Everybody knows Hendo is a real tough guy and yesterday he tried and then we saw it’s not perfect and so come on lets change,” he added. “Now we have to wait a few hours more or a day or two and then we know more.”
