Liverpool Team News: Rodgers Gives Latest On Suarez, Sturridge, Agger & More

Liverpool take on Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon looking to get to winning ways following their midweek defeat to Man Utd in the League Cup.

Ahead of the game boss Brendan Rodgers has given Liverpoolfc.com a team news and injury update with the latest on Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, Daniel Agger and Joe Allen.

Suarez made his long-awaited first team comeback in midweek after completing his 10-match ban and Rodgers has confirmed the striker is showing no ill-effects following the game at Old Trafford and says the Uruguayan is in great spirits becoming a father on Thursday.

There is also some good news on the fitness of Agger with the Reds boss confirming that the defender is back in contention after returning to training this week, but midfielder Allen is set to miss out once again as he’s still working his way back to full fitness following a hamstring strain.

Striker Sturridge has made a stunning start to the season and Rodgers confirmed he has no plans to rest or drop the former Chelsea forward now that Suarez is back in the team, insisting he remains a vital part of his first team plans.

Here’s what the Liverpool boss told the clubs official website:

“He’s fine [Suarez]. He became a father for the second time yesterday so he’s on top of the world.”

“Daniel Agger will hopefully come back into the reckoning; he has trained in the last couple of days. Other than that, it will be more or less the same squad.

“I can only work with the players that I have available. We have got a few injuries and most of them have been unfortunate injuries.

“I can only concentrate on the players we have available now and we’ll maximise what we can out of that group. They are working very hard and working well.”

“We felt leading up to the Swansea game that Joe’s hamstring was getting better,” said Rodgers.

“But he still has a bit of time to go on that. He’s obviously working hard with the medical team but he’s not fit yet.”

The boss was questioned on the fitness of top scorer Daniel Sturridge too, and quickly quashed any suggestions that the striker could be rested following the return of Luis Suarez.

“There’s no taking him out. With Daniel, we’ve seen this season that even when he’s not 100 per cent fit he’s still an amazing player,”

“He’s still a player that will put defenders on the back foot. His pace and power is getting up to speed.

“He’s a player that is very important for our team. He’s a catalyst at the top end and even when he’s not at 100 per cent he’s still a top player.”

Liverpool saw their unbeaten start to the season ended at home to Southampton last time out so they will be keen to get back on track after such a promising start to the new campaign, and they get the chance to do just that against manager-less Sunderland on Sunday.

Now we’ve seen the team news, what would be your preferred starting eleven for the game? Share your views below.