Tuesday 14 April 2015 00:01, UK
Brendan Rodgers hopes striker Daniel Sturridge will not miss Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final clash with Aston Villa on Sunday.
Sturridge was not part of the Reds squad for the Monday Night Football meeting with Newcastle United as he was feeling the after-effects of a knock he suffered in the quarter-final replay against Blackburn.
The England international has endured an injury-plagued campaign and only recently returned from a lay-off of nearly five months.
Rodgers told Sky Sports before the game that he would monitor Sturridge over the rest of the week, but his comments after the game were a little more positive.
The Liverpool boss said: "He will hopefully be okay for the weekend. I will know more in the week.
"He feels reasonably fine so we are hoping by the middle of the week we will have an indication where he is at."
Rodgers was guarded about the availability of another striker, Mario Balotelli, who missed the Newcastle game as he continues to battle an illness.
He added: "Mario is still ill. He was not quite fit enough (to face Newcastle). He has had on and off sickness issues."
And Rodgers expects defender Mamadou Sakho to miss 'three or four weeks' with a hamstring injury.
The 25-year-old Frenchman was forced off in the first half at Blackburn and had already been ruled out of the Newcastle game - he could also now miss the Villa tie as well as Premier League encounters with West Brom, Hull and QPR.
