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| Daniel Sturridge returned to training yesterday after hip surgery in May |
BRENDAN RODGERS believes Daniel Sturridge is the fittest he has been for 18 months, but will not put a timeline on his return to Liverpool’s first team.
Sturridge resumed training on Thursday after hip surgery in May, but Rodgers is mindful of rushing the striker back too soon because of his injury history.
It seems unlikely that the Liverpool manager will include Sturridge in his plans for tomorrow’s heavyweight showdown with Manchester United at Old Trafford.
“Daniel Sturridge has returned to training, but there is no timeline on when he will be fit to participate,” said Rodgers.
“He looked very, very sharp in training and probably the best he has looked fitness wise 18 months.
“I can never say that we are over his problems. I don’t want sit here and then something happens in a month’s time.
“From experience I don’t want to put any timeline on him coming back, but he has worked very hard in America with people over there and our medical team has done a brilliant job.
“He has joined in with group and then we will see.”
Sturridge missed almost the whole of last season with calf and thigh problems before his campaign was curtailed by the hip surgery carried out in America.
Liverpool will assess Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana before the game after they both missed the defeat to West Ham and England’s Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Rodgers knows the importance of not slipping to defeat against United and said: “It is important to win the next game irrespective of where it is.
“Once you lose a game and have had two weeks to sit on it, then winning the next game is very important. We fell below our standards against West Ham and we need to recreate that standard again.”
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