Liverpool: Daniel Sturridge facing a month on the sidelines with hip muscle injury

Liverpool have been handed a fresh injury blow after England boss Roy Hodgson revealed that Daniel Sturridge's hip injury suffered during the Reds' loss against Manchester United is worse than first feared.

The Liverpool striker, who had travelled with the Three Lions squad, was forced to pull out due to the injury and scans later revealed that he had a tear in his hip flexor muscle.

"I'm a little bit disappointed for Daniel Sturridge, because when he came to us he didn't really feel that the slight problem he felt was really any problem at all," Hodgson said, as quoted by the Mirror.

"When we did the scan and it turned out that there was a problem he was absolutely devastated, because he didn't want to leave us. There was no option because he has a slight tear and you can't play through that," the England manager added.

According to the Mirror, the former Chelsea forward could be ruled out for a month with this current setback, which means he will miss crucial clashes against top four rivals Arsenal and their FA Cup quarter-final replay against Blackburn Rovers among other important Premier League fixtures.

This is the second injury setback for the England international forward, as he only recently returned from a five-month spell on the sidelines due to back-to-back thigh and calf injuries.

Sturridge's injury news will come as a major blow for Brendan Rodgers, whose team is in a race for a place in the top four along with Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham.

The Northern Irishman will have to revert to using Raheem Sterling as a centre-forward as his other forwards, Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert have failed to impress in front of goal.

To compound Liverpool's problems ahead of their crucial encounter against the Gunners, the manager will also be without Steven Gerrard, Martin Skrtel and Adam Lallana.

The former two are suspended due to infringements committed during the clash against United and the latter suffered a groin injury in the same game.