Both Manchester City and Liverpool would ideally like fully fit squads heading into this Sunday’s huge Premier League clash.
The meeting has been branded as a potential title decider with the clubs separated by just a point. Whoever comes out of the weekend as league leaders will be tipped as favourites to land the crown.
City were boosted by John Stones ’ 90 minutes against Atletico Madrid in their Champions League clash on Tuesday after the defender was forced to withdraw from England duty with a knock. However, Ruben Dias will not be available as he still continues to recover from a hamstring injury sustained last month.
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Liverpool fans were glad to see Trent Alexander-Arnold make a return from his own hamstring issue that kept him out of the international break when he lined up against Benfica in their Champions League bout on Tuesday. But Jurgen Klopp was given another injury concern during the fixture when defensive midfielder Fabinho sustained a knock to the head in the closing moments.
The Brazilian managed to see out the remainder of the game, which gave immediate encouragement to his boss. And the German has now revealed that he should be fit and ready for City.
He said: "There’s a little cut. He’s fine, that’s how it looks. He had a cut on the back of his head and obviously there is no hair that could hold the blood back.
“That’s why they needed a bit of time, but he should be completely fine." Meanwhile, Mo Salah was taken off during the win with 20 minutes to go, likely with the weekend in mind.
The Egyptian has not played a whole 90 minutes for Liverpool since suffering a slight foot problem against Brighton in March. That said, he played every minute of his country’s World Cup play-off loss to Senegal across both legs, the second of which went all the way to penalties as Reds teammate Sadio Mane netted the winning kick.
Both Salah and Mane are expected to line up against City on Sunday, as is Fabinho and Alexander-Arnold, with Liverpool set to have a fully fit squad.
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