Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge is facing "up to three weeks" on the sidelines due to a thigh injury he picked up when he was playing for England last week.
The 25-year-old, who played for 89 minutes during England's 1-1 draw against Norway at the Wembley Stadium, picked up a knock on his thigh while training with the Three Lions squad at St George's Park last Friday.
If Sturridge does get ruled out for three weeks then he is set to miss three Premier League games against Aston Villa, West Ham United and Everton, two Champions League fixtures against Basel and Ludogorets Razgrad and a League Cup clash against Middlesbrough.
Reds boss Brendan Rodgers confirmed the news, insisting that the injury "could have been prevented" with the right amount of precaution.
"It could be up to three weeks," Rodgers told reporters at Melwood. "We're obviously disappointed because we feel it was an injury which could have been prevented. I think clubs work differently at times to international teams."
"It's more the recovery strategy. When we look at our players here we look at them individually in terms of what their needs are. "
"Fast players would have a second day recovery while other players can work on that day. When you are that type of quick player like Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and boys like Danny Welbeck you need to recover them."
"He (Sturridge) has worked so hard over pre-season and looked very fit and strong in our last game against Tottenham."
Apart from Sturridge, Liverpool also have other injury concerns as new signing Emre Can could also be out for six weeks after picking up an ankle injury while playing for the Germany U-21s.
"We've got Emre Can back from Germany, who could be out for up to six weeks because of his ankle," Rodgers told the Reds official website.
Joe Allen will also be undergoing a late fitness test ahead of the Aston Villa clash this weekend as the midfielder also sustained a knee injury while playing for Wales last week.
"We've got Joe Allen back from playing on awful pitch and he has an issue with his knee. We just need to assess that for the weekend. Those are the types of things than can happen in games and it's unfortunate."
