Liverpool's Sturridge suffers fresh injury setback

Liverpool have been dealt a blow with the news that striker Daniel Sturridge has suffered an injury setback, just when it looked as though he was set to return to action.

The 25-year-old, out since September with a thigh muscle injury sustained playing for England, had been in consideration for Sunday's match at Queens Park Rangers, but suffered a calf strain in training on Friday.

"He's looking at being out for two to four weeks," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo.

"It's a big blow as we were looking forward to welcoming Daniel back. He has worked tirelessly.

"But we have other players training hard and working hard and we will turn to them. It's why we bulked up the squad in the summer."

With Sturridge, who scored 25 goals for Liverpool last season, injured, Liverpool will hope Mario Balotelli can find his form, having yet to register in the Premier League since his summer move from Milan.