STURRIDGE UNHAPPY WITH DRAW

Daniel Sturridge has said that he is pretty disappointed with the draw against Manchester City as he felt that his team played better than City.

The match between Manchester City and Liverpool on Saturday ended in a draw. Both the teams scored two goals each in the game. Daniel Sturridge also scored a goal for Liverpool in that match.

Sturridge has joined Liverpool just a month back and he has performed brilliantly for the Reds so far. He found the net in each of his first three matches for Liverpool.
Talking to the reporters after the match against Manchester City, Sturridge said, “I am a bit disappointed with the end result. We were better than them today and deserved to get three points. But, that’s the way it goes. Sometimes, you play better than the opposing team, but, even after that, you don’t win the match.”

“In the last couple of games, we have played some great football, but, we have managed to get only two points from those two games. That’s really disappointing. But, we can’t do anything about that now. We need to regroup again and look forward to our next match against West Bromwich Albion.”

When asked if he thinks that his team will be able to qualify for the Champions League, Sturridge said, “Yes, I think so. We need to be positive. We are nine points behind Tottenham Hotspur which is at no. 4. It’s not a huge margin. We need to back ourselves to overtake them.”
“We have played reasonably well this year. Currently, most of our players are in good form and if we remain consistent in the rest of the season, we can finish the season in top 4.”

Liverpool will play its next match against West Bromwich Albion at the Anfield on 11th of February.

STURRIDGE MOVE HITS GLITCH

Liverpool's attempts to bring in the Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge to Anfield during the January transfer window has been hit by a glitch due to the demands made by the agent of the player. Liverpool have been consistently linked with the England international for the last few months. He came extremely close to joining Liverpool on a season long loan deal during the summer.

Even though he is one of the two strikers at Chelsea along with Fernando Torres, he has found very little first-team opportunities at the club. As a result, the club are prepared to sell him for £ 12 million in January.
He has been recently left out of the squad that played at the Club World Cup, while he was also a notable absentee in the match against Leeds united. He was expected to take part in the Capital One Cup, but the manager Rafa Benitez decided to omit him from the squad due to the expected transfer of the player. It is thought that the two clubs have agreed a £ 12 million fee for the player, but a possible medical ahead of the completion of the move on January 1st has been hit by the demands of the agent. Liverpool are not prepared to pay a significant amount of fees to the agents unlike in the past.

Liverpool are the third club in the Premier league behind Manchester city and Chelsea to have paid a lot of amount to agents. This has significantly hit the balance sheet of the club, as they have suffered a lot of losses in recent seasons. Even though this is largely due to the absence of the Champions League football, Liverpool believe that they do not need to pay a lot of fees to the agents, which could lead to the proposed transfer falling apart.

STURRIDGE WILL HIT 20

The Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge has said that he is extremely confident that he will be able to score at least 20 goals in a season if he is given the chance by the manager.

The 23-year-old came to prominence at the club during the time of Andre Villas-Boas, but soon found himself as one of the regular substitute under the current manager Roberto di Matteo. He scored close to 15 goals last season, with a majority of them coming during the first half of the season under Andre Villas-Boas. This season, Roberto di Matteo has used Fernando Torres in every match of the season apart from one.

This has meant that Daniel Sturridge has been only on the bench with his game time coming in the form of late substitute appearances. Even then, he has scored a few goals for the club including the final goal in the 4-2 win over Tottenham. He has been recently selected for the England friendly match against Sweden, despite not having played much for Chelsea this season. He has said that he is patiently waiting for this chance to get into the team, and when he does, he believes that he can score 20 goals a season. Torres has scored seven goals in his 19 appearances this season.

"I'd hope so. It's always difficult to say I'd score 20 goals a season. But if any player's given a regular run then you'd hope that if they're playing at a top club and given opportunities to score goals they'd be able to do that. I do believe I'm a centre-forward, I do believe I'd be able to help the team win games," said Daniel Sturridge. Torres has been suffering from yet another crisis of confidence in recent weeks. His poor performances might mean that Sturridge could have an opportunity against West Brom this weekend.

STURRIDGE WILL GET CHANCE

The manager of Chelsea, Roberto Di Matteo, has said that Daniel Sturridge might be given starting opportunities in the upcoming matches. Sturridge hasn’t been given enough playing chances in the ongoing season so far and the English striker has spent just 31 minutes on the field in the current Premier League season.

Sturridge was reported to be approached by the authorities of Liverpool during the pre season transfer window, but, he rejected their offer and opted to continue playing for Chelsea. But, the English striker has been sidelined more often than not in the current season.

As per Di Matteo, you can’t include everyone in the starting line up. The players need to wait for their chances. Sturridge has looked in good nick in the training sessions. So, he might be included in the first XI in the next matches.

The upcoming schedule of Chelsea is pretty hectic. The team has to play 7 matches in the next three weeks. Chelsea will play its next match against Sunderland and then, the team would play its opening match of the Champions League against Juventus at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea was the winner of the Champions League in the last season. The team had defeated Bayern Munich in the final match by 4-3. Di Matteo thinks that Chelsea has got good enough team to win the Champions League for the second consecutive time.

However, the Chelsea manager admitted that it would not be easy for the team to repeat the history. As per Di Matteo, the opposing teams would be coming hard against the defending champions which would make Chelsea’s work harder in the upcoming Champions League tournament. But, the players need to keep things simple and try to do what they had done in the previous season.

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GB WILL IMPROVE

Team GB and Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge has said that he is confident that the team can improve from the 1-1 draw they suffered at the hands of Senegal in the opening match of the London Olympics 2012.

The match was played at Old Trafford, but the Sunday's match against the United Arab Emirates will be played at the new Wembley. Daniel Sturridge is once again expected to start for Team GB after the manager Stuart Pearce has taken a lot of precaution in ensuring that he is fit for the duration of the tournament.

The Chelsea striker offers a major doubt for the London Olympics 2012 after being diagnosed with viral meningitis a few weeks back. However, he has made a spectacular return from that problem in order to start in the first match against Senegal. Even though the manager did not use for more than 45 min, the Chelsea striker has said that he is extremely happy just to have secured the opportunity to represent Team GB at the Olympics.

Sturridge was one of the surprising packages of last season after having scored almost 15 goals in the first half of the season, but he disappointed in the second half of the season. He is hoping to put things right this time around.

"It's a big game but we are used to it. There were always going to be nerves in the first game but we will go about our business and do what we do best," said Daniel Sturridge ahead of the match. It remains to be seen if Stuart Pearce will have the former Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy at his disposal. Being one of the few players above both age of 23, the presence of the former Blackburn Rovers striker is extremely important according to Daniel Sturridge.

STURRIDGE ON HIS WAY OUT

Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge looks set to leave Chelsea after it was rumoured that the England striker is currently unhappy with the London club over playing time in the second half of last season.

Daniel Sturridge emerged as one of the front-runners for the race for the Premier league Golden Boot award in the first half of the season under manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Despite being played on the right wing, Daniel Sturridge scored more than 10 goals in the first half of the season. However, since Andre Villas-Boas was replaced by Roberto di Matteo, he has grown extremely frustrated on the bench.

Roberto di Matteo has utilised him marginally due to the fact that he does not see Daniel Sturridge as someone who offers constructive passing. Due to this, the striker has been linked with a return to Manchester city in the summer.

Now, the latest rumours have linked him with a move to London club Tottenham due to the fact that he wants to stay in the capital. Liverpool have also been credited with an interest. The 22-year-old only has two years left on his current contract with the club, but he is already on wages of £ 60,000 per week.

It is thought that he is looking at a new contract that will offer him up to £ 90,000 per week, but Chelsea are insisting that he is already on good wages at the moment. Even though he will not be able to secure a contract anywhere close to this region at either Tottenham or Liverpool, he will at least be guaranteed a place in the starting line-up. Chelsea value the 22-year-old England international at around £ 12 million after having paid in Manchester City only around £ 5 million back in 2008.

CHELSEA WANT TOP 4

Chelsea midfielder Juan Mata has said that the club should not dismiss their hopes of finishing in the top four this season ahead of the trip to Anfield on Wednesday night.

Chelsea will be making the trip to face Liverpool on Wednesday night in jubilant mood having won the FA Cup on Saturday. It was the fourth FA Cup victory for Chelsea in the last six years. Juan Mata was a huge influence for Chelsea in the match after he set up the first goal for Chelsea, which were scored by Ramires. Didier Drogba once again scored at the new Wembley to help Chelsea to a 2-1 victory.

Following the 2-0 loss at the hands of Newcastle last week, Chelsea hope of finishing in the top four lies in tatters. They need to win the remaining two matches and other results also need to go their way if they are to finish in the top four. As a result, Chelsea interim manager Roberto di Matteo is expected to make a number of changes to the squad with one eye on the Champions League final in Munich on May 19. Juan Mata is expected to be one of the numbers rested from the starting line-up due to the sheer number of games he has played this season, but the Spanish midfielder has rejected any suggestions of fatigue.

"I have plenty of energy left. It is a long season and my first in England, but the benefits of winning easily outweigh the fatigue. We have to win and still believe in playing the Champions League next year," said the Spain star. Chelsea are extremely doubtful about the participation of both David Luiz and Gary Cahill in the final after both players are trying to recover from their hamstring injuries.

STURRIDGE STILL HAS TITLE HOPES

Chelsea's England striker Daniel Sturridge has said that it would be foolish to write off the title chances of Chelsea just yet.

Daniel Sturridge has been in sensational form this season and he scored his eighth goal of the season in the match against Wigan. However, it was not enough for Chelsea to close the gap on leaders Manchester City and Manchester United. This was because Chelsea lost the lead late on in the match after a late goal from goalkeeper Petr Cech allowed Jordi Gomez to equalise the match with 3 min of normal time remaining.

Daniel Sturridge collected a beautiful pass from his England colleague Ashley Cole to put Chelsea in the lead. It helped to pacify the Chelsea supporters, who were growing nervous following the side's inability to take the lead. Chelsea had a lot of possession in the first half, but they failed to make any clear-cut chances. The Daniel Sturridge chance was probably the best they had and the England striker converted it gracefully. It helped that Daniel Sturridge move past Frank Lampard as the top scorer at the club, and it has been a sensational year for the England striker.

However, he believes that even though the draw at Wigan might be damaging to the title hopes, Chelsea still have a chance of winning the title from this position. "We will fight to the last game. These sort of draws [against Wigan] are upsetting because we worked so hard only to concede at the end. But we will work harder in training to be ready for the next game. It is frustrating for everyone and it is important we bounce back, which we will. Any team in the top six can win it [the title]. We're one of them," said Daniel Sturridge.

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