Boss Confirms Lucas Injury, Hints at Sturridge Start

Heading into the meeting with Tottenham Hotspur later on today, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers had some good news and some bad news when the media pressed him on player availability in his pre-match press conference.

Although his roundabout hints that Daniel Sturridge could make his long awaited return to the starting eleven at Goodison Park last weekend turned out to be wide of the mark, the Northern Irishman didn’t hesitate to take the same line when asked about the 25-year old. “You’ll see tomorrow night,” said the Reds manager, obviously not interested in expanding too much further. “He’s in a condition where he has been training for a little bit of time. There’ll be a time where he will be able to start, whether it’s tomorrow or whether it’s at the weekend, you’ll have to wait and see.”

While there’s no telling for sure whether or not Sturridge will be fit enough to join in from the start, Rodgers was a little less vague when asked if Lucas would be fit enough to take park after an early exit from the Merseyside Derby with an adductor problem. Although he confirmed the Brazilian won’t be able to run out against Spurs, he refused to put a time-line on his return to the squad.

“Lucas is one that will probably miss a little bit of time. We’re just waiting on the exact results of the scan” explained the Liverpool manager before going on to address concerns about the fitness of Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana with am encouraging, albeit brief, blanket statement. “All the others should be fine.”