Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City will host league leaders Liverpool on Sunday searching for victory that could resurrect their season, but perhaps without their most important player. Striker Erling Haaland has 19 league goals this season, but he may not be healthy in time to try to add to his total. Haaland, who sustained a knee injury late in City's 4-0 win over Newcastle United last weekend, already missed the team's 3-1 loss at Real Madrid on Wednesday in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout round series.
However, manager Pep Guardiola didn't completely rule out the Norwegian marksman. "Don't know yet. (Saturday) we will know," Guardiola said Friday.
"It's better to have Erling on the pitch. ..
. Everybody is responsible for the good things and bad things for the team, but obviously with Erling we are better." Regardless, Manchester City (13-7-5, 44 points) did add some key reinforcements during the winter window, most notably Omar Marmoush, who scored a hat trick in the first half of the Newcastle win.
And while a miracle surge to catch Liverpool (18-1-7, 61 points) is unlikely, it wouldn't be completely impossible with a win that would narrow the gap to 14 points and kept City with a match in hand. Having received a bye to the UCL round of 16, Liverpool spent its midweek grappling to a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa in a fixture rescheduled from March 15 because of the Reds' run to the Carabao Cup final. Mohamed Salah opened the scoring w.
