Man City give injury update on Erling Haaland and five other players for Liverpool FC fixture

Pep Guardiola has given a fitness update on Erling Haaland and five Manchester City players ahead of Sunday’s Premier League game against Liverpool.

The champions head to Anfield with several injury concerns in the midst of a busy fixture schedule. Guardiola revealed on Tuesday that Erling Haaland was ‘tired’ and ‘didn’t recover well’ after last weekend’s win over Southampton, resulting in him being rested for the midweek draw in Copenhagen.

Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden also didn’t start as City drew 1-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday, but did come off the bench. Speaking after the game, Guardiola said: “Phil also had some disturbing problems, Bernardo told us yesterday he was so tired. I didn’t want to take a risk.”

And speaking on Friday ahead of the Liverpool showdown, Guardiola confirmed that Haaland is available to play in the game, along with Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, who were also benched in Denmark.

He said: “We have a lot of games, the players recover better. Erling last season couldn’t play these games in a row. They feel good and are ready for Sunday.”

Guardiola also offered an update on other injury absentees John Stones, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips, with the trip all missing games recently for various issues. Phillips and Walker are recovering from surgery and face a race against time to make England’s World Cup squad, while Stones picked up a hamstring problem with England last month and hasn’t played since, with this week originally mentioned as a possible return date.

Now, Guardiola said Stones could be out for another two weeks, as well as providing an update on Walker and Phillips.

“All of them will be out,” he said of the trio. “John I think back, I don’t know when but maybe one week, ten days. Kalvin is getting better, improving a lot. Kyle is still out.”

As for Liverpool, they’re expected to be without Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Kieta and Luis Diaz for the clash with City on Sunday. Jurgen Klopp also hinted there could be further injuries when speaking on Friday. Asked if all his players had emerged from Wednesday’s win over Rangers unscatched, the Liverpool manager responded: “We have to see, no final decisions yet.”