Brendan Rodgers believes Daniel Sturridge will be close to being fully fit by the end of this week.

Sturridge missed five months of the season after being injured while playing for England in early September.

Rodgers believes the Europa League has helped Sturridge get back up to full fitness quicker.

"Daniel is not fully fit yet and it is difficult for him because these are not training games for him to get fit," Rodgers said. "He's excited by the new system. Put a fully fit Daniel Sturridge into that system and it lights it up again.

"Come the end of this week Daniel be on a great run and able to play every game and be able to train.

"He wasn't quite ready for the Premier League so then we were trying to fit him in in games.

"The Europa League was a great chance to get some game time into him, but after five months out and with his history here that was something we had to think of.

"The last thing we wanted to do was break him. He felt good on Sunday on the back of playing Thursday. He's very determined to play and when you see a fully fit Daniel, he will be brilliant."