League Cup tie too soon for Sturridge

Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge will miss Wednesday's League Cup tie with Bournemouth as he continues his recovery from a minor knee injury, manager Jurgen Klopp revealed on Tuesday.

"There's nothing new. Daniel's not available," Klopp told a press conference ahead of the fourth-round encounter at Anfield.

"He's getting better, but not quick enough to change the situation for us. He's not in training so we have to wait."

Sturridge sustained the injury in a training-ground collision with Jordon Ibe and is yet to feature under Klopp, who has drawn all three of his matches since succeeding the sacked Brendan Rodgers.

In Sturridge's absence, one or both of Christian Benteke and Roberto Firmino could start after the pair made comebacks from injury as substitutes in Sunday's 1-1 Premier League draw with Southampton.

With a trip to struggling Premier League champions Chelsea to follow on Saturday, Klopp confirmed that he will rotate his starting XI against Bournemouth.

"In this moment I don't know how many changes we will make," he said.

"But I make the changes not because this competition is not important for me. It's because I want to win the game. We had three games in the last eight or nine days in the legs, so of course we have to change things.

"We have a suspended player in (James) Milner, we have injured players with little problems that we don't want to risk. It's the most important cup in the world because it's the only one we have to play tomorrow."

Source: AFP