Moore backing Sturridge for the World Cup
West Brom caretaker boss Darren Moore has not written off Daniel Sturridge’s chances of making the England World Cup squad.
The striker moved to The Hawthorns on loan from Liverpool at the end of the January transfer window, hoping some regular football would bring a goalscoring streak to boost his chance of going to Russia this summer.
However, a hamstring injury during only his third appearance for the club has seen Sturridge miss the last seven matches and meant he was unavailable for England’s friendlies against Holland and Italy in March.
The 28- year- old is fit again now, though, and could feature when West Brom play Manchester United at Old Trafford today. And Moore believes there is still time for Sturridge to force his way into the plans of England manager Gareth Southgate.
“We all love goalscorers and Daniel is just that,” said Moore. “He is a quality player and I am sure Gareth won’t fully rule him out. He will keep real close tabs on him to monitor his fitness.
“We have taken players to the World Cup before who have just been on the fringe of getting back to full fitness.
“Certainly if Daniel does find his full fitness in the coming weeks then I wouldn’t rule him out because he is a quality player, a goalscorer and you can never have too many of them.
“For Daniel, the short- term aim is to get fit, get himself back in the team and show everybody the player we all know he is. If he does that, the rest will take care of itself.”
Moore halted West Brom’s club record run of eight Premier League defeats last weekend with a 1- 1 home draw against Swansea in his first game in charge. He is aware of the scale of the task facing him and his players this afternoon.
He said: “They’ve got threats all over the place. We’ve spoken about the Manchester derby and what an excellent game it was. That shows where their threats are, they’re all over, because of the personnel and the players they’ve got. They’re good top quality players. They pose a threat from all over.”
Nacer Chadli ( thigh) and Sam Field ( calf ) could also be back in contention for West Brom.