Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that his side "need" Daniel Sturridge to remain fit and firing for the rest of the season.
The injury-plagued striker finally made his first Premier League start under Klopp this afternoon and opened the scoring against Aston Villa to send the Reds on their way to a 6-0 drubbing of the division's bottom side.
Klopp insisted that he was not surprised by how quickly Sturridge made an impact following his return, but also stressed the importance of replicating such performances when key players are missing.
"We need the goals of Daniel and he needs the goals. For me it's not a surprise he can score goals. He is a real striker. It's really good to see. When he hides himself on the pitch it's really difficult to defend [against] if he is always somewhere," he told reporters.
"He changed a lot of things but we can only speak about this when he is available. When he's not we cannot say 'but with Daniel it would have been different'. It was brilliant and you saw he was not too happy when we took him off.
"It was perfect for him and hopefully he is available for us for the next game. It was a perfect goal and it's good for us when we have all players available. In football life is not like this and you have to get results when you don't have all players available."
The win lifts Liverpool up to eighth in the table, with just three points now separating them from fifth-placed Manchester United.
Barney Corkhill
