In fact, the challenge over the last few years has been getting Sturridge onto the football pitch rather than on the treatment table as injuries have blighted his Liverpool career, however it seems this season we have seen Sturridge back to his very best and doing what Sturridge does which is putting the ball in the back of the net.This was demonstrated beautifully on Saturday evening at Chelsea where after coming on as a substitute Sturridge delightful chip over the world’s most expensive keeper saw him scoring twice in a week for the first time in years.After spending the second half of last season on loan at West Brom where he got injured in his first game and missed the rest of the season we all thought Sturridge’s Liverpool career was dead and buried.
However, he seemed to have other ideas. It was evident in pre-season that there was something different about Sturridge, he seemed to have a new lease of life and although he has done this to us many times in pre-season down the years this year felt different.He ended pre-season as the highest goal scorer and went into the season with a bang, scoring with his first touch against West Ham on the opening day. However, it was a few weeks ago against PSG where we really started to stand up and take notice of him, a goal on his first Champions League start in almost six years was followed up by good performance as he began to remind us just what he does best. In this last week Sturridge raise the bar again, two goals in two games against Chelsea have left us fans singing his name again.Throughout the year years Sturridge has had many critics, me being one of them, his inability to be able to stay fit for a long period of time and his lack of effort on the pitch has left everybody frustrated at times, even his manager has criticised him publicly by saying he needs to learn to play through the pain barrier. Despite all his critics there is no doubt Sturridge’s ability to score goals and when fully fit he is a danger anywhere within 30 yards of the goal, Chelsea found that out the hard way on Saturday.What is satisfying about having Sturridge back on form is that we finally have a striker on the bench who can come on and influence a game. No disrespect to Dominic Solanke or Danny Ings but they simply are not at the level that Sturridge is and having this weapon as part of our arsenal is going to be so crucial if we are going to challenge for the league title this season.
If Sturridge can continue to perform like he did on Saturday and continue to find the back of the net he may be able to live up to the level that he was producing in 2013/14, and as Liverpool fans that’s all we’ve been asking from him for the last few years.Article by Imraan Adam @imadam786
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