Daniel’s Kop career fading away
DANIEL STURRIDGE is out for the season with a hip injury, raising the prospect he could have played his last game for Liverpool.
The striker, 27, has been unable to shake off the niggle he sustained after the game against West Brom.
Sturridge has become an increasingly peripheral figure this season as a succession of injury problems haunt him.
The player, who has been at the club since January 2013, missed a month from mid-November and two months from early February. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has made no secret of his frustration at Sturridge’s unreliability – the player has made just 23 appearances for the Reds in all competitions this season and five starts only in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, midfielder Emre Can admits Liverpool cannot afford another slip-up in their remaining four games if they are to keep hold of a top-four spot.
Liverpool dropped three points on Sunday after a late Crystal Palace winner and Can admitted “stupid mistakes” continue to cost them. But he said the players believed a perfect record from now until the end of the season would get them over the line, with the other leading teams likely to take points from each other in the run-in.
“We are disappointed but from today we have to look forward and four wins has to be the target for us,” said Can.
“We’ve got to go again and we believe if we win the last four games we’ll qualify for the Champions League.
“Some of the other top teams have to play each other and one of them will drop points.”