31 March 2023 , 16:06
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Jurgen Klopp insists nothing will change for Liverpool regardless of whether or not Erling Haaland features for Manchester City on Saturday.
The two heavyweights go at it at the Etihad with plenty on offer for both teams, be it title ambitions or top four hopes. The hosts are sweating on the fitness of their relentless striker, who has scored 42 times this season, but has been nursing a groin issue which kept him out of Norway's recent games against Spain and Georgia.
Klopp and Liverpool were able to keep the forward quiet when they met earlier in the season at Anfield, a game in which they secured a 1-0 win. City's tactics have changed this term with the introduction of a genuine striker into their ranks, but the visitors won't prepare any differently regardless of who lines up.
Speaking about whether Haaland's availability will have an impact, Klopp said: "Not too much. When you prepare a game, you prepare all things to avoid the final pass - which is where Erling really comes into the game. He is a proper striker, but they became champions without a striker. That's how it is, you never know 100 per cent who can play."
City are waiting until the eleventh hour before they make a decision on Haaland. Pep Guardiola said: "We have the last training session at 4pm today [Friday] so then we will see how he feels. We will see, we will see what happens."
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If the Norwegian is absent then City are expected to revert back to the false 9 system which has seen them win the last two league titles. If they want to continue playing with a striker then they could deploy Argentine Julian Alvarez, but the former seems more likely.
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Erling Haaland is an injury worry for Man City (PA)Liverpool head to Manchester off the back of some mixed results that saw them hammer rivals Manchester United, but also lose to Bournemouth and Real Madrid. Klopp is hoping his inconsistent side can put their best foot forward when they make the short trip to their fierce rivals.
He added: "We are not dumb, we know the last game we played in Madrid was not a good game, the game before was Bournemouth, not a good game. The game before was world-class. So we have to make sure that we pick up from there or react on the other two games, whatever.
"So City don’t know exactly, they have to expect us to be in a top, top, top shape and we have to show up there and really go for it, there’s no other chance for us."
A win for the Merseysiders will see them close on Tottenham in fourth, whom they also have games in hand on. Victories at City in the league have been hard to come by however with their last coming in 2015.