Reigning Premier League champions Manchester Metropolis will host league leaders Liverpool on Sunday looking for victory that might resurrect their season, however maybe with out their most vital participant.
Striker Erling Haaland has 19 league objectives this season, however he will not be wholesome in time to attempt to add to his complete.
Haaland, who sustained a knee harm late in Metropolis’s 4-0 win over Newcastle United final weekend, already missed the workforce’s 3-1 loss at Actual Madrid on Wednesday within the second leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout spherical sequence. Nevertheless, supervisor Pep Guardiola did not fully rule out the Norwegian marksman.
“Do not know but. (Saturday) we’ll know,” Guardiola stated Friday. “It is higher to have Erling on the pitch. … All people is liable for the nice issues and unhealthy issues for the workforce, however clearly with Erling we’re higher.”
Regardless, Manchester Metropolis (13-7-5, 44 factors) did add some key reinforcements through the winter window, most notably Omar Marmoush, who scored a hat trick within the first half of the Newcastle win.
And whereas a miracle surge to catch Liverpool (18-1-7, 61 factors) is unlikely, it would not be fully not possible with a win that would cut the hole to 14 factors and stored Metropolis with a match in hand.
Having acquired a bye to the UCL spherical of 16, Liverpool spent its midweek grappling to a 2-2 draw in opposition to Aston Villa in a fixture rescheduled from March 15 due to the Reds’ run to the Carabao Cup closing.
Mohamed Salah opened the scoring together with his twenty fourth aim to achieve his highest league complete since he registered 32 throughout his 2017-18 debut Premier League marketing campaign. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 61st-minute tally leveled affairs for good.
Nevertheless, a rearguard that started the season in such stalwart style underneath first-year boss Arne Slot has now conceded 5 objectives within the final three matches whereas settling for under 5 factors in that span.
Slot can be effectively conscious that this model of Metropolis is a a lot improved one from that which the Reds defeated 2-0 in early December.
“I can see them coming again already if you happen to take a look at the end result in opposition to Newcastle,” Slot stated. “So what you count on is what everyone expects if you happen to go to the Etihad (Stadium) if you happen to play in opposition to Metropolis. You must undergo as effectively and work actually laborious to maintain them away out of your aim as a result of they’re so, so good in ball possession. However they face a powerful workforce as effectively that hasn’t misplaced for 22 video games (within the Premier League).”
–Discipline Degree Media
