Gerrard Bullish on Sturridge

"Daniel’s arrival will help the club," insisted Steven Gerrard following Liverpool's dominating performance against Sunderland on Wednesday night. "He’s got power, pace, strength—he has got huge potential. He’s another attacking option and if you look at the bigger picture from the beginning of the season up until now, we have been a little bit short in the final third."

Against Sunderland, at least, Liverpool showed no signs of needing Sturridge's help in the final third, with Raheem Sterling, Stewart Downing, and Gerrard himself putting in strong performances in support of a world class display from Luis Suarez.

It was the kind of performance from the Liverpool striker that makes it difficult to imagine Sturridge taking on a central role at Anfield, yet a difficult first half of the season has certainly made it clear Liverpool do need reinforcements across the front line even if against Sunderland the results were encouraging and even if a fit Suarez will always be the club's focal point in attack.

"He will add more strength in depth for us," continued Gerrard, "and let’s hope he’s not the last face in January because we certainly need a couple more in. Daniel has the quality. I know he’s got it—I’ve seen it. He suffered a bit at Manchester City and moved on to Chelsea where he hasn’t played as much as he wanted but has shown flashes of brilliance.

"I think he’s at the age now when he needs to settle down, get a settled club, and show consistently what qualities he’s got. If he can start producing that for us on a weekly basis he can help this club move forward to where we want to be. He has said he wants to play football for a big club, [so] the stage is set for him.

"There will be no excuses. He will be playing with good players at a great club. It’s all there for him. He just has to go and grasp it with both hands."