The Liverpool striker scored within 12 minutes of his return from injury as his side defeated West Ham

Brendan Rodgers lauded the impact of Daniel Sturridge as the England international made a goalscoring return from his lengthy injury layoff as Liverpool cruised to a 2-0 victory over West Ham.

The lively Raheem Sterling had already put the reds ahead before the introduction of Sturridge, who made sure of the three points with a thunderous shot from an acute angle.

Despite being out of action for five months, the striker didn’t look at all rusty and Rodgers was clearly delighted with his contribution.

“When he’s in that area of the field he’s shown for us over a couple of years here that he’s lethal. It was nice for him. He’s obviously been out a long time.

“He’s a top class player. I think he’s shown that in his career so far. He’ll get goals, today he was only on the field for 25 minutes and got one and went close to another. He’s worked hard and the first opportunity was a great first touch and finished it off with his second.”

Despite the goals of Sturridge and Sterling, Rodgers refused to put too much pressure on the pair and instead praised the overall team performance.

“I’m more concerned about the form of the team. I thought Adam Lallana was brilliant today. (Philippe) Coutinho’s two passes were phenomenal. Raheem is an outstanding talent and it was a brilliant finish from him. There is talents throughout the team with young players that are developing very quickly and it is good to see.”

Meanwhile, Sam Allardyce conceded that the deal to sign Darren Fletcher from Manchester United is now off.

On any chance of resurrecting the deal before the transfer window closes, he said: “I really don’t know at this moment in time, there’s so much going at the club at the minute. Negotiations broke down this morning.

“Thank god the window shuts tomorrow, it’s a disaster. It creates problem for managers. Players are being tapped up. The sooner it shuts the better. Whether we get a replacement or don’t get Darren Fletcher is neither here nor there, it’s about the window being a really huge distraction to us all.”