By Lori Ewing
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester City forward Erling Haaland is a doubt for Saturday’s home game against Liverpool in the Premier League but may be risked, manager Pep Guardiola said, as his side maintain their chase of leaders Arsenal.
Haaland, who joined City this season from Borussia Dortmund, has scored 42 goals in 37 matches in all competitions, but suffered a groin injury against Burnley on March 18, and pulled out of Norway’s squad for their Euro 2024 qualifiers.
“Erling is in recovery. In the end the doctors and especially the player will decide, how does he feel,” Guardiola told a news conference on Friday.
“(Thursday) I spoke with him, he feels good. But we’ll see. Life is risks. At this stage, we’ll have to take it.”
Any extended layoff for Haaland would be bad news for City’s chase of Arsenal, with the north London side eight points ahead having played a game more. City need a win against Juergen Klopp’s side to prevent the gap growing to double digits.
City, already without forward Phil Foden for up to three weeks after having his appendix removed, will also be hoping Haaland can play a key role in their Champions League quarter-final tie against Bayern Munich, with the first leg at the Etihad on April 11.
However, Guardiola was confident City can weather the storm should the 22-year-old be sidelined.
“We have scored a lot of goals this season and he has scored an incredible amount of goals,” he said. “But we’ve always scored a lot of goals since we’ve been here.”
Guardiola added that sixth-placed Liverpool, who have finished runners-up to City three times in the past 10 years but have been inconsistent this season, are always a dangerous team to play.
“They remain an exceptional team,” he said. “My opinion doesn’t change for a season of up and downs. Every club during one season can have these ups and downs.”
Arsenal, who are chasing their first league title since 2003-04, host 14th-placed Leeds United later on Saturday.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
