Daniel Sturridge injury puts extra pressure on Liverpool's strikers to start scoring, says Jamie Carragher

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher will be right here each week to cast his expert eye over the forthcoming Premier League games.

The Liverpool legend will have his say on the players, managers and stories surrounding Sky's live fixtures – and in this column, he discusses the Super Sunday clash between Crystal Palace and Liverpool.

Last season this was an encounter that had a huge impact on the title race as Palace staged a dramatic late comeback from three goals down to draw 3-3. This time around, though, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has more pressing concerns than the title race...

It has been revealed this week that striker Daniel Sturridge is likely to be out for another six weeks with injury, how much of a blow is that to Liverpool?

CARRA SAYS: It’s a massive blow. Everyone has been hoping for the last few weeks that things will turn around when Sturridge is back, but now it’s back to the drawing board and Brendan Rodgers will have to go with the same players who have struggled at times so far this season.

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They have to produce the goods now with Sturridge looking as though he is out until the new year. They have missed him massively, he still had problems last season with injury, but because he is now the number one striker he is more important and there is more pressure on him to perform and be fit, maybe that is contributing to his injuries.

Brendan Rodgers wanted to build his attacking focus around him like he did with Luis Suarez, but with him being so injury prone it puts a lot more pressure and focus on the other strikers.

Do you think Rodgers should persevere with Mario Balotteli up front, or should Rickie Lambert get a chance?

CARRA SAYS: I think the longer it goes on with none of the strikers scoring, you have to look at somebody else. So far he has gone with Balotelli and not given Lambert that opportunity, he has used him as a squad player. Whether that will change this weekend or further in the future who knows, but whoever he goes with has to start scoring because none of them have netted in the Premier League this season.

There could be some good news for Liverpool with Mamadou Sakho possibly set to return from injury this weekend. Will his return give the defence a lift?

CARRA SAYS: So far the first choice centre-back pairing seems to be [Dejan] Lovren and [Martin] Srktel, but the team is still conceding goals. It’s the same as the strikers, if they are not scoring then you have to look at somebody else. Sakho and Kolo Toure are there and Rodgers may make that change for Palace, but if Liverpool continue to concede goals you have to change it as a manager.

Can you put your finger on where it has gone wrong at the back for Liverpool this season?

CARRA SAYS: Not really. They had problems conceding goals last season but we thought maybe it would be rectified with a bit more strength in the back four and 12 months extra experience for the goalkeeper, but it hasn’t quite clicked into gear. At times it has been a totally new back four from last season, you have the full-back [Javi] Manquillo, [Albert] Moreno at left-back, Lovren has come in, there are a lot of new players and back fours need to play together for a while to get that understanding. It’s been a bit stop-start because of the international breaks, but sooner or later Liv