Liverpool Team News & Injury Update: Latest On Downing & Sterling

Liverpool travel south to take on relegation-threatened Reading at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday looking to bounce back from last weekends disappointing 0-0 draw with West Ham.

Boss Brendan Rodgers has been in front of the media on Wednesday giving his pre-match press conference and gave Liverpoolfc.com a team news and injury update ahead of the game with the latest on Stewart Downing and Raheem Sterling.

The good news is that winger Downing has been passed fit after recovering from a bout of sickness but youngster Sterling wont be involved this weekend.

Downing was forced off after just 25 minutes against the Hammers last Sunday after being ill before the match but he’s now fully recovered and in contention to face the Royals. Here’s what Rodgers told the clubs official website:

“Young Raheem won’t be involved. Stewart Downing had a bout of sickness last weekend just before the game, hence the reason for him having to come off,” Rodgers told reporters.

“He’s fine now. Apart from that, we’re fit and strong – the players are looking very good.”

The Liverpool boss then expanded on his reasoning for leaving Sterling out and Rodgers explained that the Liverpool medical team are keen to protect the 18-year-old from suffering from fatigue or being susceptible to picking up a serious injury. He continued:

“The medics wanted to take him [Sterling] out for a few weeks just to see where he was at with injuries. It has been an ongoing one.

“He’s a very young player so we don’t want to risk any long-term injury when there’s no need. Of course you would rather have him in the squad to develop him, but this is a part of making sure we have a duty of care for him as a young player.

“When he shows signs of fatigue and a little bit of injury, we have to look at that and treat it in the best way we think possible. At the moment, that’s to take him out.”

Now we’ve seen the team news what would be your predicted score for the game? Get involved in the comments section below.