Pep Guardiola provides crucial Erling Haaland and Phil Foden fitness update ahead of Liverpool clash

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has now provided a crucial update on the fitness of Erling Haaland and Phil Foden ahead of the clash against Liverpool.

City return to domestic club action following the final international break of the season with a crunch clash against Jurgen Klopp’s side, as they look to cut down the gap between themselves and Arsenal to five points – albeit possibly temporarily.

However, the build-up to the Etihad Stadium clash has been largely dominated by headlines surrounding Erling Haaland’s fitness, as the Norway international battles an ongoing groin problem that forced him to withdraw from international commitments a fortnight ago.

The 22 year-old striker failed to train on Wednesday or Thursday with the rest of his City teammates, leaving many wondering how much of an involvement he would have in the game on Saturday afternoon, if any at all.

Now, manager Pep Guardiola has provided a significant update on the fitness of his 42-goal centre-forward, speaking during his pre-match press conference at the City Football Academy on Friday afternoon.

Guardiola said: “Erling [Haaland] is recovering, this afternoon we have the last training session and we are going to see how he feels.

“We’ll see today. At the end, the doctors and the player will decide how he feels, I spoke with him, he feels good. We will see. Life is risk in these stages, we have to take it.”

The fitness of Erling Haaland will be crucial to Manchester City’s hopes of retaining involvement in three different competitions beyond April, as the forthcoming month challenges Guardiola and his squad to the extreme.

City face a number of high-profile Premier League fixtures – including against the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal – as well as a UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich, and complimented by a trip to Wembley to face Sheffield United in an FA Cup semi-final.

Phil Foden underwent surgery for appendicitis last weekend and is at risk of missing the Champions League quarter-final clash with the Bundesliga giants in April.

“The doctors tell me 2-3 weeks I think, we will see how he develops,” said Guardiola when asked about the Englishman’s recovery.

Should Foden be sidelined for another three weeks then the 22 year-old looks set to miss fixtures against Liverpool, Southampton, Bayern Munich and potentially Leicester City.