London, March 27 (IANS): Liverpool's young striker Daniel Sturridge could be out for up to a month after the extent of his hip problem was revealed by England football team manager Roy Hodgson.

Sturridge was injured during last Sunday's English Premier League game against Manchester United. The 25-year-old was forced to pull out of the England squad for Friday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Lithuania at the Wembley stadium, reports dailymail.co.uk.

He will also miss the friendly in Italy on Tuesday. Sturridge underwent scans that revealed a slight tear of a hip flexor muscles.

"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," said England boss Hodgson on Thursday.

"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."

Sturridge has since returned to Merseyside for intensive rehabilitation. His club manager Brendan Rodgers is hoping the forward doesn’t face too long a spell on the sidelines having already missed five months of the season through injury.

However, he is now a doubt for their crunch game with Arsenal on April 4.

Liverpool are already without suspended duo Steven Gerrard and Martin Skrtel for their next Premier League game against Arsenal on Saturday.