Man City v Liverpool injury news as 5 ruled out, one doubt with 2 set to return

Liverpool face a tough assignment on their return from the international break as they head to Man City in the Premier League lunchtime kick off on Saturday afternoon.

The Reds lost ground in the race for the top four after a 1-0 loss at Bournemouth earlier this month. Jurgen Klopp’s side are seven points adrift of Tottenham Hotspur in fourth but have played two games fewer than the North London club.

They are five points behind Newcastle United in fifth, with both clubs having played the same number of games. Liverpool beat Man City 1-0 when the sides met at Anfield but have lacked consistency this campaign.

Ahead of a big test in Manchester, LiverpoolWorld has rounded up the injury news from both camps.

Liverpool

Liverpool have welcomed Luis Diaz back to training after a long spell out but Jurgen Klopp has confirmed he will not be in the squad against Man City.

Thiago and Naby Keita are also expected to remain out while defender Rhys Williams will also not be involved.

“In training everything looks fine but of course he’s not in the squad for the weekend, there’s no chance,” said Klopp of Diaz.

“Next week will be an important week for him; this week he was doing parts of training, next week I think most of the things he can do. Then we will see. Maybe [ready for] Arsenal but more likely Leeds after that.”

Meanwhile, Darwin Nunez is back in contention after he missed the international break for Uruguay after picking up an injury against Real Madrid. Joe Gomez is also poised to return after missing the last four Premier League games.

Klopp added: “Darwin couldn’t train for two or three days this week still because of the cut he got against Real Madrid on his foot, but was yesterday then back in full training so he is definitely in contention.”

Man City

Phil Foden is definitely out after he recently underwent surgery to remove his appendix. In an update on the player, Guardiola revealed: “The doctors tell me two or three weeks - I think so - and we will see his development from appendicitis surgery.”

Meanwhile, Erling Haaland is a majur doubt having picking up a groin isse which ruled him out of action for Norway during the international break.

He was not spotted at training on Thursday with Guardiola poised to make a call on his involvement on Friday.

“Erling is recovering. We have the last training session and we will see how we feels. We will see this afternoon. The last training at 4 o’clock, we will see how he feels” he said.

“We will see today and the doctors and the players will decide how he feels. I spoke with him yesterday and he feels good. We will see what happens. Life is a risk in these stages.”