Journalist Mark Ogden has backed Manchester City striker Erling Haaland to start against Liverpool this afternoon.
During the recent international break, the striker was unavailable for Norway’s match against Scotland due to an ankle problem.
In his latest press conference ahead of today’s Premier League clash against the Reds, Pep Guardiola revealed that while the 23-year-old was involved in a training session on Thursday, he did have some injury niggles to deal with.
This has since led to one journalist sharing his thoughts on the matter and whether the Norwegian will be fit enough to feature in City’s starting XI this afternoon.
Journalist downplays Haaland injury concern
Speaking in a recent video on the ESPN FC YouTube channel, Ogden had this to say about Haaland when asked about the current fitness situation concerning both sides.
He said: “The big doubt is Erling Haaland, he’s the one that everyone is asking questions about, but he trained on Thursday.
“He’s been troubled by an ankle injury which he aggravated playing for Norway last week. It’s one that he’s already had this season, when City played Bournemouth he picked up the injury but he trained on Thursday.
“I think Pep is trying to steer people away a little bit and inject a little confusion saying that he had a few niggles on Thursday. But Haaland will play, there’s no doubt about it, he’s back on the training pitch, he’ll play.”
This season has seen the centre-forward, who the club paid £51m to sign back in 2022, start all 12 of City’s Premier League games, completing the full 90 minutes in all but two of them.
Across those 12 games, the 23-year-old has found the back of the net 13 times and provided three assists, which highlights not only how important he is for the team but also how much danger he can cause for the opposition.
Bearing in mind how Liverpool head into this game with a better defensive record than City, having conceded two fewer goals than them across the campaign, this shows how crucial Haaland could be for his side and helping them pick up a victory.
Moving forward, while it’s a positive that the striker was able to train on Thursday, it’ll be interesting to see if he gets troubled with another ankle problem in this game if he does end up starting.
