Brendan Rodgers has confirmed Daniel Sturridge is close to starting his first game in six months for Liverpool and is considering handing the striker his return against Everton or Tottenham Hotspur.
Sturridge has made two brief substitute appearances since recovering from a thigh problem and Rodgers said after his goalscoring comeback against West Ham United that it would be a few weeks before the 25-year-old started a game. That cautious approach was underlined in the FA Cup replay win at Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday when Fabio Borini was introduced ahead of Sturridge with Liverpool chasing an equaliser.
But the Liverpool manager admits the England international is improving daily and has refused to rule out a starting role for Sturridge in Saturday’s Merseyside derby. He said the forward will have a great chance of starting the Premier League game against Tottenham on Tuesday if, as appears likely at this stage, the substitutes’ bench beckons at Goodison Park.
Rodgers said: “It is about liaising with Daniel and the medical team in terms of the risk but he is not far away from starting now, he is really champing at the bit. We will analyse things over the coming days.
“We want to make sure he is going to be available now for the rest of the season. If the timing is not quite right it can damage us and hurt us, but his appetite to play is there which is great. I need to speak with my staff and Daniel and make a decision. It is difficult because these are games that we want to win, they are not fitness games. We want to win football matches so it is hard if someone only needs 30 or 45 minutes. But he is not far away from starting.”
Tottenham’s visit to Anfield next week may have a greater bearing on Liverpool’s top-four prospects than the trip to Everton but Rodgers insists that will not influence his decision on Sturridge. “They are both very important games in different ways,” he said. “It is a local derby and you want to win those. That is the only concentration but of course we want to win on Tuesday as well. If Daniel wasn’t to start at Everton then he would be in with a great chance to start against Tottenham.”
Liverpool have several slight injury doubts before the 224th Merseyside derby. Lucas Leiva was not risked at Bolton due to a thigh problem, Lazar Markovic suffered a back injury in the 2-1 win and Adam Lallana sustained a groin injury. All three will continue to be assessed in the buildup to the Everton game.
