Brendan Rodgers says Daniel Sturridge looks in “top-class condition” ahead of Liverpool’s clash against West Ham United at Anfield on Saturday.

The Reds striker wasn’t ready to make his return from injury for Liverpool’s 2-1 aggregate defeat by Chelsea in the Capital One Cup semi-final at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.

We played one of our early games against Tottenham and you could see the reference he was to the team Brendan Rodgers

However, the 25-year-old, who hasn’t featured for the Merseyside outfit since August, trained with his Liverpool team-mates at the club’s snow-covered Melwood facility on Thursday.

Speaking at his pre-match media conference this afternoon, Rodgers confirmed that Sturridge was in contention to face the Hammers.

“He’s looked very, very good in training today, he was outstanding.

“But we’ll give him another day and I’ll have another chat with him tomorrow just to see where he’s at, but he looks in top-class condition.”

Liverpool, who are five points adrift of Manchester United in fourth spot, can move above seventh-place Hammers with victory on Saturday.

When asked if the Reds had missed Sturridge in race for a top-four finish, Rodgers replied:

“No question. I think it’s had a huge impact on our season.

“You can trace that back to the beginning of the season when we played one of our early games against Tottenham and you could see the reference he was to the team in that match.

“He hasn’t played and the team struggled for a few months, but thankfully we’ve now nailed down a way of working and returned to our football ideals.”

France international Mamadou Sakho was forced off in the second half of Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat by Chelsea due to a back problem.

Although the defender tweeted that he would be ok to resume training with his team-mates on Friday, Rodgers was unsure if Sakho would be ready for the visit of West Ham.

Rodgers added: “Sakho we’ll assess tomorrow. He’s still recovering.”

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