Liverpool expects Daniel Sturridge to return from injury in early January.

Sturridge has been out for most of this season with a thigh injury. Sturridge has played in just three matches after picking up an injury on international duty in September and then a setback in November.

Sturridge is currently in Boston continuing his rehab program.

Asked by reporters when Sturridge was likely to be back in action, Rodgers said: "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," he continued. "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."