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Brendan Rodgers is confident Liverpool FC’s strength in depth will ensure they can cope with an early season injury crisis.

The Reds’ squad will be heavily depleted when they kick off a hectic schedule of seven matches in the space of 21 days against Aston Villa in the Premier League at Anfield on Saturday.

Daniel Sturridge is out for up to three weeks with the thigh strain he suffered during an England training session, while Emre Can and Joe Allen were also hurt on international duty.

Can will be missing for up to six weeks after sustaining ankle ligament damage during Germany Under-21s’ 8-0 rout of Romania.

Allen could also miss the visit of Villa as he continues to have treatment on a knee problem. The midfielder limped away from Wales’ Euro 2016 qualifier on Andorra’s much criticised 3G playing surface.

Neither Martin Skrtel (knee) nor Glen Johnson (thigh), who both missed the victory at Tottenham nearly a fortnight ago, are fit enough to return, while Jon Flanagan (knee) also remains on the sidelines.

Being without half a dozen first-team players last season would have stretched Rodgers’ resources to the limit but the manager believes the Reds’ summer spending spree has given him the reinforcements required to handle the injury setbacks.

“We’ve been unfortunate,” Rodgers told the ECHO.

“Dan had started the season very well. His performance against Tottenham was excellent. He didn’t score but his pressing, his positional play, his speed, movement and hold up play was first class.

“He will be missed but we’ve got a long season ahead and the important thing now is to get him physically right.

“It’s disappointing for Emre as he was just starting to find his feet and get his fitness and his power back. He got injured when they were 6-0 up.

“Joe Allen is back from playing on an awful pitch and has an issue with his knee. He will be assessed for the weekend.

“Martin Skrtel won’t be available but should hopefully join up with the team when we train on Sunday. Glen Johnson still has a wee way to go and young Jon Flanagan is not ready to be back in the squad yet.

“This is why it was so important to strengthen the squad during the transfer window.

“We have options now and that’s key for us. We had a great window in terms of the calibre of players we brought in.

“We signed young players with quality and some with more experience as that’s what we needed.

“We were very specific about the types we were bringing in and they have all adapted very well. We did some really good business.”

In the absence of Sturridge, there will be plenty of responsibility resting on the shoulders of Mario Balotelli to lead the line against Villa.

The £16million signing from AC Milan missed training due to illness on Thursday but Rodgers says it won’t stop him for making his home debut.

“Mario has had a bit of a bug that we wanted to make sure he didn’t spread around the group,” Rodgers revealed.

“But he’ll be okay for Saturday. I think he has felt the warmth of the club since he’s been here and I’m sure he will look forward to playing at Anfield. He isn’t the only one. The same goes for the likes of Lazar Markovic and Adam Lallana who will also be involved.”

Rodgers said talk of Balotelli being involved in an unsavoury incident with Wolves’ George Saville during last week’s behind closed doors friendly at Melwood was “nonsense”.

Rumours spread on social media sites that Balotelli had stamped on the young midfielder.

“It was another example of the circus and people looking for something,” he said.

“It was a story which was made up. The guy absolutely did nothing wrong.

“Mario and young George Saville both went in for a tackle, they tangled, both went over and both got up.

“George was scratching his head after getting up and the next thing it’s being reported that Mario kicked him in the head. It was nonsense. There was nothing in it.

“There was no incident. Mario has been as good as gold since he’s come in.”

Rodgers has got Adam Lallana, Lazar Markovic, Philippe Coutinho and Rickie Lambert vying for Sturridge’s attacking role.

Lallana has yet to feature since his £23million move from Southampton but has impressed in training since recovering from knee ligament damage.

“Adam is looking good and he will go on and show his qualities,” Rodgers said.

“Rickie has mostly had an impact from the bench since he came in. We saw it with England the other night when he come on and set up the goal for (Danny) Welbeck.

“Rickie’s working well and if he doesn’t start this one he will definitely start against Middlesbrough in the League Cup. His game time will come.

“At the moment he’s playing a great supporting role coming off the bench.”

The clash with Paul Lambert’s Villa is quickly followed by Tuesday’s opening Champions League game against Ludogorets at Anfield. League games against West Ham and Everton are then sandwiched by the Capital One Cup tie with Middlesbrough.

Liverpool also travel to Switzerland to face Basel and host West Brom on October 4 before the next international break.

“I look at the schedule of games for September and October and it’s fantastic,” Rodgers added.

“I’m really excited about it from a coaching perspective. You want to be involved in big games and big tournaments.

“Hopefully we get a good result on Saturday and then we’ll look to the Champions League. It will be a great occasion to be back at that level.

“We’ve planned out the team for the next five games but of course you have to allow for injuries, It’s very important that you can rotate but you also have to retain the core and the consistency in your team. The best teams and the most successful ones do that.”