Daniel Sturridge claims Liverpool are missing £65m star after Chelsea defeat

Former Liverpool and Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge (Picture: Sky Sports)

Daniel Sturridge believes that Luis Diaz ’s absence is being sorely felt by Liverpool after they fell to a dramatic late defeat against Chelsea .

Arne Slot ’s side were second best for large parts of the contest at Stamford Bridge and were made to pay in injury time when Estevao’s strike condemned them to a third consecutive defeat.

Cody Gakpo ’s second-half strike had cancelled out Moises Caicedo ’s superb opener, but the Reds conceded another late goal to fall off top spot for the first time this season.

Despite their heavy summer of recruitment, Liverpool have not clicked into gear this season, with Slot struggling to find the same rhythm with his new-look squad.

And while much has been made of the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold, or the unbalanced look to their midfield, Sturridge believes that Liverpool’s front three is where they looked most disjointed.

In particular, the former Liverpool striker believes that the absence of Diaz, sold to Bayern Munich for £65m to fund the signings of Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, has gone underappreciated.

‘Luis Diaz is a massive miss for them,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘When we look at Liverpool last year and how they used to press, he was arguably the one who set the press in the front three.

Kerez struggled again at Stamford Bridge (Picture: Getty)

Slot’s side are simply not clicking into gear (Picture: Getty)

‘Szoboszlai does that in midfield with the power and dynamism that he has, but Diaz, with how tenacious he was off the ball and tenacious to get the ball back with interceptions as well.

‘He brought something to that front line and they are now missing that.’

Sturridge continued: ‘Ekitike and Isak do work off the ball, but what I would say is they are attack-minded players and I think Luis Diaz sacrificed himself a little bit more defensively.

Luis Diaz left Liverpool in the summer (Picture: Getty)

‘I think that’s the one thing they need to figure out in the attack is who is going to give themselves up a bit. In a front three, there has to be one person who does that.

‘We talk about the midfield and the balance and consistency there but I also think in the front three it’s important to understand which one is going to be our workhorse, which guy are we going to let do what he wants and the other can go high and score.

Liverpool’s front three are not firing on all cylinders (Picture: Getty)

‘I think right now I’m not sure the manager knows what he wants to do.’

Slot, meanwhile, insisted his side should not get caught up on their third loss in a row, especially after a game which he felt could have gone their way.

‘I think two very good teams were on the pitch today,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘First half unfortunately for us the only chance they had in the first half goes into the top corner.

‘ We created three open chances – Kerkez, Dom and Alex with the header – but I felt the game was equal.

‘Second half we started off really well. It wasn’t a surprise we equalised. Last 15 minutes it was end-to-end. We had chances. they had chances to win. In the end we concede a last-minute goal.

‘Last season we lost against Chelsea as well. Stamford Bridge is always difficult. We were very close to a result. Small margins.