Will Daniel Sturridge be fit to start against Everton on Saturday…
Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he’s still unsure whether or not Daniel Sturridge will be fit to make his first start in five months when Liverpool take on Everton this Saturday.
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Sturridge returned from his extended absence as a substitute in last weekend’s 2-0 victory over West Ham United at Anfield, scoring just 12 minutes after replacing Lazar Markovic.
He was on the bench again on Wednesday evening for our FA Cup replay against Bolton Wanderers. He came on at 1-0 down and helped turn the game around, with the Reds eventually winning 2-1.
Dejan Lovren, Mario Balotelli and Lucas Leiva were all absent for our win over Bolton and will all be assessed ahead of the Merseyside derby. Markovic, who limped off last night, is also a doubt.
Speaking to Liverpool’s official website, Rodgers said of Sturridge’s possible return to starting duties: “Every player wants to play, not just Daniel. You go into each game and every player that gets paid here at the football club wants to play.
“Daniel is coming along very well. It’s not that he won’t start, [but] we need to analyse that over the next couple of days. We shall see. There’s nobody definitely ruled out, but we’ll see how they are tomorrow.”
This all means that Emre Can, Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho will continue their impressive partnership at the back, and although he’s carrying a knock, Lucas should return to partner Jordan Henderson in central midfield. Steven Gerrard will hope to start in the top three at the expense of Adam Lallana, with Raheem Sterling either starting as a centre-forward, or in an attacking midfield role off Sturridge – who’ll be chomping at the bit to start as well.