Erling Haaland’s fitness is the big talking point as Manchester City prepare to battle Liverpool in a massive Premier League showdown today.
The Norwegian striker suffered a knee injury during last weekend’s 4-0 win over Newcastle and looked in significant pain on the pitch, before he was replaced by Mateo Kovacic in the closing stages.
When speaking afterwards, City boss Pep Guardiola issued a positive update on Haaland, telling reporters: “When he went down everyone was scared. But he walked off smiling and the doctor didn’t tell me bad news so hopefully he is fine.”
Optimism over Haaland grew further at the beginning of the week as he took part in a training session and was subsequently named in the squad that flew to Spain for the crucial Champions League knockout play-off round second-leg decider against Real Madrid.
However, the 24-year-old was an unused substitute in the 3-1 loss at the Bernabeu and his fitness remains a key concern for City. Guardiola provided a fresh update on Haaland 48 hours before leaders Liverpool’s visit to the Etihad Stadium
“I don't know yet,” Guardiola said. “[Saturday] we will know.”
That coy update, along with Haaland’s lack of minutes in Madrid, has put some doubt on Haaland’s participation against Liverpool.
Will Erling Haaland play against Liverpool?
As things stand, and taking into consideration that Haaland was on the bench on Wednesday night, he could be 50-50 to feature on Sunday.
Whether that be as a starter is another question as the update from Guardiola following the Real Madrid clash didn’t sound too positive.
“Erling, yesterday, tried to train after the action against Newcastle in the last minutes,” the Spaniard told reporters.
“Probably, with the images (scans) we have done, it’s fine but he has discomfort walking, for example with stairs, and we spoke yesterday and this morning and he said he’s not ready, he doesn’t feel good.”
City are set to make a late decision on Haaland’s availability and they could opt to be cautious with his fitness. The fixtures continue to pile up with a trip to Tottenham on the way in midweek before their FA Cup fifth-round tie at home to Plymouth next Saturday.
Sunday’s clash against Liverpool is a huge one for Arne Slot’s side, but defending champions City are not in the thick of the title race and could therefore decide not to risk aggravating Haaland’s issue if there are lingering concerns.
