Daniel Sturridge: Celebrates goal at Stoke with Luis Suarez

The England striker scored on his return to action as a substitute in last weekend's 5-3 victory at Stoke following six weeks out with an ankle injury.

And Rodgers is looking for the former Chelsea star to kick on in the second half of the season and cement his position in Roy Hodgson's squad for Brazil.

"My opinion about Daniel has only been reinforced during the time I have worked with him," he said.

"He has a wonderful opportunity over the next couple of years to become world class. He has every tool, every quality to be a world class striker similar to Luis Suarez.

"He came on during the game last weekend and was superb which is a great credit to him on how focused he has been in getting back to full fitness."

On Liverpool's chances of winning their first top-flight title since 1990, Rodgers admits the longer they stay in touch the more seriously their challenge will be taken.

"We are only six points off the lead and we have all the top sides around us to play at home," he said.

"We have got to feel we are in with a chance but everyone will talk about the three clubs ahead of us because their squads have been around there for the past few years and they have big squads to choose from.

"For us it is just a case of continually improving, working and trying to fight to be up there. We really have to push on now to try and stay up there, keep our standards high and that's not just on the games but every day in training.

"Thankfully I have a group of players who are brilliantly focussed on maintaining those standards and we'll take that into every game we play."

Watch Liverpool take on Aston Villa at Anfield live on Sky Sports 1 from 5.00pm this Saturday