Erling Haaland missed out on international duty because of an injury but the striker still has an outside chance to face Liverpool this weekend.
The striker picked up a groin injury during City’s win over Burnley in the FA Cup and up until yesterday, there were major doubts over his availability on Saturday.
Manchester City will take on Liverpool and even though Erling Haaland is not 100% fit but Pep Guardiola has hinted that the Norwegian can be ready in time to make it into the matchday squad.
“Erling is recovering,” the boss said in his pre-match press conference. “This afternoon is the last training session then we’ll see how he feels.
“We will see today. Again, the doctors and especially the player will decide how does he feel. Yesterday I spoke with him and he feels good. But we will see.
“Life is risk in these stages. You have to take it. We score a lot of goals this season. He scored an incredible amount of goals. But in the past always we scored a lot of goals.”
Erling Haaland has scored 28 goals in 26 Premier League games this season so if he is available then it will be a massive boost for Manchester City.
Man City are eight points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal with a game in hand so they need to treat every match as a final. Liverpool might not be in the best of forms this season but they are still one of the best in England so Haaland’s late fitness test can play a key role in determining the outcome of this tie.
If Haaland is passed fit then it will be a big headache for Jurgen Klopp because just a few weeks ago, Van Dijk and Konate were badly exposed by Real Madrid’s forwards and if the 22-year-old leads the line on Saturday then it could be curtains for Liverpool.
Apart from Erling Haaland, the other player who is missing is Phil Foden and he will be out of action for two to three weeks because he is recovering from appendix surgery.
