Manchester City’s Erling Haaland could play vs. Liverpool on Saturday despite injury scare

Erling Haaland could play in Manchester City’s Premier League match against Liverpool on Saturday despite an injury scare while on international duty with Norway.

Haaland suffered a knock against the Faroe Islands last week and did not feature for his country against Scotland on Sunday. But City manager Pep Guardiola said Friday the striker was in contention for the top of the table clash with Liverpool.

“He trained yesterday with some niggles,” he said. “Today we are in the last training, hopefully he can play a part.”

Haaland has scored 20 goals in 22 appearances for club and country this season.

Defending champion City is one point ahead of Liverpool at the top of the table.

City and Liverpool have been the dominant teams in English soccer’s top flight in recent years and Jürgen Klopp looks set to challenge Guardiola again after rebuilding his team.

Liverpool challenged for an unprecedented clean sweep of trophies two seasons ago, but last term ended up empty-handed and missed out on qualification for the Champions League.

“This team doesn’t have to pass a test now, the direction we are going — up — is really the right one, that is obvious,” Klopp said.

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