Sturridge In and Welbeck Out? Injury Worries for Duo Ahead of Saturday Showdown

It’ll be an anxious wait for both Liverpool and Arsenal ahead of Sunday’s showdown in the Capital with both teams sweating the fitness of their star strikers.

It was previously being touted that Daniel Sturridge, who was sent back to Merseyside from international duty when a slight tear in his hip flexor muscle was found following a scan, would be out for the next month, there are now suggestions that he could be fit in time to run out at the Emirates Stadium as the Reds try to continue muscling their way up the table. Their miraculous run was halted in the loss to Manchester United the weekend before last and has left them five points out of a Champions League spot with only eight matches left — making the meeting with the Gunners an even higher priority than it was before.

While Liverpool are almost certain to leave Sturridge out of the starting eleven should they suspect that playing him will put him in danger of aggravating the injury, he could very well play through the pain barrier at the weekend — as, it seems, could Arsenal man Danny Welbeck.

The former United man, who scored as the Three Lions thrashed Lithuania on Friday, picked up a knee problem during the match. Welbeck, along with a number of other players including Reds winger Raheem Sterling, has since withdrawn from the squad ahead of tomorrow’s friendly with Italy in Turin. Although England boss Roy Hodgson said the knock wasn’t that bad, Saturday’s meeting with Liverpool could come too soon for the 24-year old.