The Reds boss lamented the number injuries he has had to cope with but insisted he was never going to field an understrength side against Bournemouth

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers insists his players will be ready for Tuesday’s Merseyside derby, despite having little time to recover.

The Anfield outfit edged into the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 2-0 win at Championship side Bournemouth on Saturday, and host local rivals Everton in the Premier League next week.

But Rodgers was not tempted to field a weakened team at Dean Court.

“We have a very thin squad, and along with that we’ve got a number of injuries, but the tradition of the FA Cup for Liverpool is huge,” he told reporters.

“We want to pay respect to the competition because we want to get to the final and win it if we can.

“The players have had enough recovery time and will recover well for Everton. They have everything there to recover.

“We go into Tuesday’s game on the back of a good win against a good Championship side.”

And the Northern Irishman was full of praise for Bournemouth and their manager Eddie Howe.

“Bournemouth are a very good side and we give credit to them first of all,” he continued. “They have a great idea when it comes to playing the game. Eddie is similar to myself in terms of his philosophy.

“They were excellent, we didn’t work hard enough in the first half, but once we re-organised at half-time we were much better.”

Martin Skrtel required treatment for a clash of heads in the second half, but Rodgers reassured fans that he would not face a spell on the sidelines.

“He had staples in his head, so he might need to grow some hair now,” he added. “He’ll be fine.”

Liverpool edged into the FA Cup fifth round with a 2-0 victory over a brave Bournemouth outfit on Saturday.

Bournemouth more than matched their Premier League visitors, particularly in the first half, but Victor Moses handed Liverpool the lead in the 26th minute with their first shot on target.

Brendan Rodgers’ side had to wait until the second half to get another effort on target and it doubled their lead – Daniel Sturridge scoring his 14th goal of the season in all competitions to break Bournemouth’s spirited resolve.

MATCH VIEW

By Jamie Dunn Liverpool are safely through to the FA Cup fifth round and, despite a decent performance from Championship side Bournemouth, it never really looked in doubt. The hosts gave a good account of themselves and were tidy in possession from the start, but Victor Moses lashed in a shot which beat Lee Camp at his near post, and the strike partnership of Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez made the difference again as the Uruguayan released the England international for the second. Brendan Rodgers, meanwhile, will have been pleased to see his side avoid injuries, with the Merseyside derby just around the corner.

The Championship side have not made it beyond the fourth round since 1988-89, while Liverpool put memories of being dumped out at this stage by Oldham Athletic last season behind them.

Eddie Howe’s men were unchanged from their 1-1 league draw against Watford last weekend, while Rodgers made three alterations from Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa, bringing in Brad Jones, Moses and Martin Kelly for Simon Mignolet, Raheem Sterling and the injured Glen Johnson.

The hosts started brightly at Dean Court, and Simon Francis almost caught Jones off guard in the 13th minute when a free-kick from the left wing was carried goalwards by a coastal gust, forcing the retreating Liverpool goalkeeper to tip over his crossbar.

Liverpool’s first chance of the match came in the form of a 25th-minute Steven Gerrard free-kick, but the captain drilled his effort high and wide of the target.

However, the top-flight outfit were ahead a minute later, when Moses picked up the ball at the edge of the penalty area and drove a low effort beyond the outstretched right arm of Lee Camp and into the bottom left corner of the net.

The goal was somewhat harsh on Bournemouth, who had equipped themselves more than adequately in the opening stages, but they instantly began to push for an equaliser, with Harry Arter seeing an effort drift just wide of the target on the half-hour mark, before Andrew Surman had a 12-yard strike deflected over by Kolo Toure and Tommy Elphick headed high from the resulting corner.

Sturridge had the ball in the back of the net shortly before the break, but the linesman had flagged for an extremely marginal offside.

Bournemouth continued to press at the beginning of the second period and had cause to feel aggrieved in the 58th minute, when Kelly clearly tugged on the shirt of Francis in the Liverpool penalty area.

And their hopes were dealt a killer blow on the hour mark when Luis Suarez found Sturridge with a sublime through-ball, and the England striker made no mistake in slotting beyond Camp.

Sturridge could have made it three 12 minutes later, but his chipped effort dropped onto the top of the crossbar, and Suarez was also denied from close range late on.

The Red boss had retained hope they could still hijack the move but, after Jose Mourinho confirmed the Basel star is set to join Chelsea, he will now monitor other targets

Brendan Rodgers has bemoaned Chelsea’s imminent capture of Liverpool target Mohamed Salah.

The Basel winger is on the verge of a move to Stamford Bridge after the London club announced on Thursday that they had agreed a fee with the Swiss Super League outfit.

Mourinho confirmed on Friday that – in light of interest from Liverpool – Salah has agreed to join Chelsea, and Rodgers says there are other targets the club can now concentrate on.

“The young guy is a good player. We have tracked him for a number of months, the club has been watching him and I have been to watch him,” Rodgers told talkSPORT.

“It is one where the agent of the player and the clubs were talking but if the deal can’t be done, the deal can’t be done.

“He’s a boy that is a talent. He is 21 years of age and people saw his qualities in the games against Chelsea and Tottenham in Europe.

“But you need to have that list [of targets] because if it doesn’t work out then you are hoping there are one or two others.”

Rodgers acknowledged that the January transfer window is a tough time to do business, but said that he is only interested in signing players who could make an immediate impact.

“I know the club has been working very hard to get players in. I’ll leave that to them and see how they get on,” he added. “January is a very difficult market. It is hard to bring in players that can improve the team.

“This is a brilliant club and we try to get players in for the now, we need players who can come in now and help us. I’d rather wait and look at our young players than bring in one or two squad players.”