Brendan Rodgers: 'Daniel Sturridge to return in January'

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has revealed that Daniel Sturridge should be fully fit by January.

The 25-year-old striker has been out of action since August with a thigh injury and travelled to Boston recently to accelerate his rehabilitation.

He netted 21 Premier League goals last season as the Reds finished one point behind eventual champions Manchester City, but Rodgers's side currently sit 10th in the table, 17 points adrift of leaders Chelsea.

Asked when the England marksman might be back in action, the Northern Irishman told reporters: "That will probably be just after the Christmas period. The first phase of his rehab was out in LA where we did some specific work with him there.

"He's gone to Boston to pick up the next stage, then he'll move on again to a specialist facility out there and hopefully in the early part of the new year he'll be back and be somewhere close to being fit and playing.

"At some stage in January, we'll look to get Dan back. That will be really exciting for this team. We'll put him into the mix again and go back to that flow of our game and results, hopefully."

With five goals, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling are Liverpool's highest goalscorers so far this season.