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Another pre-season friendly, another goal for Daniel Sturridge.

Most crucially, another question posed to Jurgen Klopp ahead of the new campaign.

The turnaround in the striker's fortunes make Lazarus' efforts look like a lazy Sunday morning stroll.

He returned to Merseyside in the summer, his future seemingly elsewhere following an unsuccessful loan spell at West Bromwich Albion. He will now start the 2018/19 season with the clamour for him to start against West Ham on Sunday growing, and with recognition of his potential importance if the Reds are to launch a title bid.

Not since 2013/14 - the last time the club managed to bloody the noses at the very top end of the table - has Sturridge looked so lean, so fit, so motivated. It has been a long time since he has looked so sharp in front of goal, too.

It was that thrilling season under Brendan Rodgers which saw him play 29 league games, scoring 21 goals. Both remain career-bests.

The problems with playing time he has encountered since - failing to register 1,000 league minutes in a single campaign - mean any optimism is tempered slightly. Those whose glass forever remains half empty assume it is inevitable this latest redemption story meets an untimely end.

But why should it? Sturridge has spent this pre-season refining his game at Melwood, working on his creativity and aiming to become the sort of multi-faceted forward Klopp likes. To try this at 28 years old is commendable, especially given his struggles under the German coach throughout his Anfield reign.

(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

Sturridge could have sought a new challenge and a fresh start, but instead opted to take on an even tougher one in usurping the fearsome 91-goal front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.

Perhaps that is why Sturridge's resurrection is a reality. Liverpool's first-choice striking options are undisputed, and those behind them in the pecking order will not be required to play 50 games in a single season.

Sturridge, who has been on an individual training programme during parts of pre-season, will not be under pressure to play every minute of every game. And while every player wants that, perhaps his six months in a relegation battle - albeit one surveyed from the sidelines for the majority of it - demonstrated how being a squad player for a potential title challenger is far more rewarding.

Arguably, for the first time since Klopp arrived, both he and Sturridge seem happy with the current arrangement.

In truth, they have to be if Liverpool are to match the level of one particular aspect from last season.

Those 91 goals from Salah,Mane and Firmino accounted for around 67% of the 135 scored by the Reds. In other words, nearly every seven goals in 10 can be attributed to that triumverate.

The need for Liverpool to bring goals from elsewhere is already apparent, but even more so when it is revealed last season's fourth, fifth and sixth highest goalscorers will not be playing at the club this year.

Philippe Coutinho and Emre Can have departed, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is likely to miss the entire 2018/19 campaign.

Those three account for 23 goals between them, a further 17% of the grand total from last year.

It means around 16% of goals scored from last season came from players who are not Salah, Mane or Firmino.

Though it shouldn't be anticipated Liverpool score 135 goals for the second successive year, nor should the front three be expected to produce the numbers they did either.

A goalscoring issue potentially emerges, then, at a club where it would be least expected. The burden on the more productive players needs to be lifted.

The signings of Xherdan Shaqiri and Naby Keita will help with that, managing eight and nine goals last season respectively.

Gini Wijnaldum has also looked more dangerous as an attacking threat in pre-season outings, thriving with the new-look midfield of Keita and Fabinho alongside him.

The centre backs should offer more threat from set-pieces, while there will surely be more opportunities than the three awarded in the league last season.

Yet it is understandable why there is a clamour for Liverpool to identify another midfield arrival on deadline day. After the sale of Philippe Coutinho and the last-minute collapse to bring Nabil Fekir - 23 goals last season - to Anfield, coupled with the season-long injury to Oxlade-Chamberlain, some want to see more goal threat from a deeper position.

Fekir is an obvious option, while Christian Pulisic and Leon Bailey have also been linked - and linked themselves - with Anfield moves.

Liverpool, however, are highly unlikely to change a stance which has existed since Alisson Becker's £65million signing from Roma: another arrival is not on the agenda.

This is where Sturridge will be crucial.

After Coutinho, Can and Oxlade-Chamberlain, it was Sturridge and Trent Alexander-Arnold with the most goals last season - with just three apiece.

A fit, firing and focused Sturridge can be expected to score far more than that, even off the bench. Indeed, he has managed double that this summer already.

A continuation of that form will go some way to bridging that goalscoring gap, and also quieten the questions over whether Liverpool could have done more this summer.