Sturridge declares himself fit ahead of Man City clash

LONDON (Reuters) – Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has declared himself fit for Saturday’s Premier League clash against former club Manchester City but manager Juergen Klopp will wait until Friday before finalising his team.

The injury-prone England international missed the start of the season after returning from hip surgery and has made just three appearances this campaign.

A knee injury in training followed by a build up of fluid in the joint means he has yet to feature for Liverpool under new boss Klopp.

“I’m fit and ready to go and it’s going to be a great time for me,” Sturridge told the club website (www.liverpoolfc.com).

“It’s been great under the new manager. I’ve been back training for the past couple of days and I was training when he first arrived.

“It’s an exciting time to be at the club and I’m enjoying working with him and the style of football. It’s important for us to understand what he wants us to do.”

Klopp told a news conference ahead of Saturday’s match with the Premier League leaders that Sturridge is “not 100 percent”.

“He’s as good as he can be after the long break,” said Klopp. “He has been out for five weeks and hasn’t trained much. As a striker, sometimes five minutes are enough. I will decide tomorrow (Friday).”

The former Borussia Dortmund boss said James Milner (hamstring) and Jordon Ibe (knee) are back in training, while midfielder Jordan Henderson could return to training next week after a foot injury.

Defender Mamadou Sakho is also progressing well from a knee ligament problem, said the German.

“Sakho is good news. It’s not that serious, not like we first thought. We don’t want to give you a time,” said Klopp.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru and Rob Hodgetts; Editing by John O’Brien and Toby Davis)