LIVERPOOL

 

  

Daniel Sturridge lights up Liverpool during 22-minute appearance against West Ham

• Daniel Sturridge scored on his first appearance back from injury
• The England ace had not played a competitive match since September 3 
• Brendan Rodgers has heaped praise on 'top-class' Sturridge  

It was as if a switch had been flicked: up went the electronic board, No 15 started flashing and suddenly, after a season of gloom, Anfield was illuminated.

Liverpool have been finding their feet in recent weeks but there was a change of pace, literally and metaphorically, the moment Daniel Sturridge emerged to relaunch an injury-plagued campaign.

Within 11 minutes of coming on against West Ham, Sturridge had scored to add to Raheem Sterling’s opener and made Liverpool look like the vibrant force of last year. 

Little wonder, then, that Brendan Rodgers was so animated. ‘You’ve got a top talent in Daniel,’ said Rodgers. ‘He lights up this team. When you add a top-class player like him you can go to another level.’

Sam Allardyce left Merseyside with his spirits low. His day began with the breakdown of Darren Fletcher’s move, he chose not to pick Diafra Sakho because of FIFA red tape and had James Collins (hamstring) and Andy Carroll (jarred knee) suffer injuries. He was adamant, though, that Enner Valencia will not be leaving on Monday.

‘No-one has bid for any of our players,’ said the West Ham boss. ‘A few clubs have been trying to take some of our players, which is not acceptable. That has upset those players because they can get bigger contracts elsewhere. But they’ll have to grin and bear it.’