Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has said that he is feeling "as sharp as ever" and is hopeful of enjoying a successful season with the club.
Sturridge has been plagued by injuries in recent campaigns and was thought to be on the verge of leaving Anfield this summer having fallen down the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp last season.
However, the England international impressed during pre-season and netted his first goal of the current campaign to cap off the 4-0 rout of Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday.
"It's the nature of football - sometimes you feel great, sometimes you don't feel great. You put your body on the line every time you go on the football pitch and you push yourself to your limit. You don't want to hold back, you want to push yourself to your limit. I feel as sharp as ever, I'm ready to go. I had a great pre-season, felt really good and I'm looking forward to the future to be honest with you. I feel great, it's the best I've felt for a long time, and I'm looking forward to this season," he told the club's official website.
"I think the way we go about our business, not just at home, but in general [with the] high press, it's about starting fast also, putting the opposition under a lot of pressure, making them make mistakes and then capitalising on the counter-attack, as you saw [against Arsenal]. It was a great result for us and a great showing of our abilities. For me, I always go from the humble aspect, which is don't get too excited so early in the season.
"I think everybody outside of the players has made the judgment on how far they believe we can go. We're quietly confident, but it's important not to get excited because in football things can change. With one or two results and you're out of the running sometimes, and you saw from last season that teams who might not necessarily have started well ended well, so it's important for us to pace ourselves, take one game at a time, not get excited.
"Every game counts at the end of the day. It's not about beating the 'big' clubs, beating the 'small' clubs, it's about every game being important. Every single game we play we have to play with the right attitude and put the right importance on it."
Liverpool return to action against Manchester City after the international break.
Barney Corkhill
