Football
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Hodgson insists England, Liverpool not at odds over Sturridge injury

Roy Hodgson insists there is no simmering tension with Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers as the England manager prepares to recall Daniel Sturridge.

Friction appeared to mount after the 25-year-old's season was thrown off kilter in September by an injury during a training session with the national team.

The prognosis on the thigh injury was a matter of weeks, but the issues snowballed as he sustained a calf problem before another thigh complaint.

Sturridge went to the United States to aid his recovery and, five months after his last Liverpool appearance, made a goalscoring return in a 2-0 win against West Ham on January 31.

The forward has continued to look bright since returning from the lay-off and is set to return to the England squad in next month's matches against Lithuania and Italy.

"Of course [I am excited to have him back]," Hodgson said. "As long as he playing well and playing.

"I haven't had to the pick the team yet or squad yet -- I have a few weeks to do that.

"But, of course, I have always said that Daniel, for me, is a player that I think has the talent we are looking for.

"I am really delighted that he is not suffering from his muscle problems any more and we have the chance to bring him back."

Sturridge's return to the national team will no doubt stir up talk about potential underlying club-versus-country tension.

Liverpool manager Rodgers initially felt the forward's injury could have been avoided, saying his tailored training programme was ignored by the England coaching staff.

Hodgson continues to downplay that incident, this week saying he was unaware Sturridge required a special programme -- something he promised to take into consideration moving forwards.

"We also like to give players a second day of recovery when we can, but it is much less obvious that we can do that because of the shorter time we get between games," Hodgson said. "We don't really have any differences there.

"Yeah, if we have one week between games, of course you can give two days off or three days off if you want and just use two days training. We can't but that is not a particular thing.

"It was unfortunate that Daniel got injured as he did and we were sad about that, but he has had a few injuries since then and I haven't seen too many people writing about that or has that been put down to our count as well?

"The other three muscle injuries he has picked up since our one, is that due to England and the way we work as well? I don't think so.

"It is just one of those things. It is unfortunate that Daniel has had a period of time where he has been plagued by injuries, but I am pleased he is not that way any more and that he is back playing.

"I thought he played well the other night [against Tottenham]."

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