Daniel Sturridge has reportedly suffered a hip injury that could see him miss the remainder of Liverpool’s pre-season campaign and potentially their Premier League season opener against Arsenal.
Liverpool’s lengthy injury list had yet another entrant in star striker Daniel Sturridge. The 26-year-old forward suffered a hip injury prior to Liverpool’s match against Barcelona at Wembley and has been ruled out of their tie against FSV Mainz as well. That brings the England international’s pre-season preparations to a close.
There are also doubts regarding his availability for the Reds’ Premier League season opening clash against Arsenal. The striker is no stranger to injuries, having missed out on 57 games for the Reds out of 118 in the last two seasons. Despite his injury record, the striker remains a key goal threat for Liverpool, which is why the Reds may have exercised caution and opted to rest him for the remainder of their pre-season campaign to give him as much time to recover as possible.
This comes only a week after the striker claimed he was excited to kick-start the new season and was ready to establish himself as one of the best strikers in the Premier League. In his absence, Liverpool could opt to start with Divock Origi up-front. The Belgian, in recent months, has been spectacular for the Reds and has been a brighter prospect this summer than first-choice striker Sturridge.
Injury worries for both Arsenal and Liverpool ahead of season opener
With only a week to go before the 2016-17 season gets underway, both Arsenal and Liverpool have a considerable number of players missing out due to injuries or owing to their participation in the Euros. However it’s Arsenal who are the most hard-hit at the moment.
Jack Wilshere is yet again sidelined due to injury and is expected to return to training only next week. potentially ruling him out of the Liverpool game. The Gunners will also be without Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck with the German nursing a knee injury while the English forward is recovering from a Meniscus tear. Alexis Sanchez suffered a knock to his ankle during Chile’s successful Copa America campaign and was expected to miss the opening few weeks of the Premier League. However, it appears an early return is on the cards.
Liverpool, on the other hand, have considerably lesser number of casualties as with viable replacements for all the absentees. Sturridge joins an injury list at Melwood that includes Lucas Leiva, Joe Gomez, Loris Karius and Mamadou Sakho. There are worries regarding James Milner’s fitness as well after the 30-year-old was hauled off in the 42nd minute in Liverpool’s 4-0 thrashing of Barcelona. However, with Alberto Moreno returning to action, the Reds do have resources to cover up for Milner’s absence.
Wenger also confirmed on Saturday that the trio of Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud will be absent as they are yet to return to action since their Euro 2016 exploits. The boss claimed that the Liverpool game comes too early for some of his star players who enjoyed lengthy runs in international competitions. The absence of so many key players for Arsenal leaves the manager with a selection conundrum against Liverpool, and a large part of how they could line-up against the Reds’ could be decided in their game against Manchester City on Sunday.
