Mario Balotelli OUT of Crystal Palace game after failing to recover from injury

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Mario Balotelli OUT of Crystal Palace game after an injury on international duty…

Reports in the Liverpool Echo have ruled Mario Balotelli out of today’s Premier League match with Crystal Palace, after the striker failed to recover from an injury sustained on international duty.

The news will surely come as a major blow to manager Brendan Rodgers, who has been left with another striker headache. Daniel Sturridge will also miss the game after his latest setback, meaning Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini are the only available forwards.

Balotelli is still struggling with the hamstring and groin problems that forced him out of Italy’s squad for their Euro 2016 qualifier against Croatia last week.

Sturridge is out until the New Year with a recurrence of his thigh injury, while Lambert and Borini have made only one Premier League start each this season and are yet to score.

Rodgers recently told reporters that Sturridge was as “down as I’ve ever seen him”. He added: “he’s a player who doesn’t want to be out for this length of time. He wants to play football, he’s just been extremely unfortunate.”

A more alternate option for Rodgers could be to play Raheem Sterling through the middle, as he looks certain to be without Balotelli, who was instead pictured watching last night’s fight between Tony Bellew and Nathan Cleverley at the ECHO Arena.

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