Reds hope switch will rejuvenate defender

best. Sturridge looked well off the pace when he made his latest comeback from injury on Saturday.

It was the striker’s first competitive outing since England’s collective failure at Euro 2016. The 26-year-old also missed the end of the club’s pre-season preparations as well as the Reds’ thrilling openinggame win at Arsenal.

He may get the chance to build on his sharpness at Burton Albion tonight in the cup if Klopp feels he is fit enough for another game so soon.

But the manager admits he cannot be the sole solution to helping Sturridge put his injury concerns behind him. “Obviously there is a bit I can do to help him but you have to accept as a manager that it is rare you can say 100 per cent what a player wants to hear,” said Klopp.

“Most of the time when it is positive, you don’t want to say all the positive things because you are not sure how he can handle this.

“But you don’t want to say all the negative things, because when a player doesn’t feel too good you want to help him feel better.

“What I can say to any player is that what always happens is for those who stay in the race and work really hard, then they will get the benefit.”

Sturridge desperately needs a run of injury-free games to convince he can regain the kind of form that saw him score 21 league goals as part of a