Liverpool head to Manchester City for tomorrow night’s UEFA Champions League Quarterfinal clash dealing with a substantial amount of injuries. City, on the other hand, are remarkably healthy right now. This perceived potential lopsidedness is of course counter-balanced by the Reds coming in to this one up 3-0 from their dominant performance in the Anfield leg.
The primary fitness concern is of course leading scorer Mohamed Salah, who missed the the goalless draw with Everton on Saturday due to a groin injury. Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has been very optimistic whenever speaking about the fitness of his forward thus far. He offered another update at his news conference on Monday.
“Not sure, 100 percent,” Klopp said today when asked about the Salah situation.
“Yesterday he was with the athletic coach in training. A 5 o’clock we train at Melwood and then we will see if he can be part of training.
“I would say rather yes than no, but we have to see and then wait for the reaction till tomorrow. Then we will make a decision. That’s it.”
Salah wasn’t the only player to miss Saturday’s Merseyside derby, as Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Adam Lallana, Emre Can and Andy Robertson were all out of action as well.
Additionally, Alberto Moreno injured himself in the warm-up of Saturday’s goalless affair. Liverpool are hopeful that both Moreno and Robertson will be ready to go for this potentially monumental night.
Also, Liverpool will not have their team captain, Jordan Henderson, as he’ll be serving a suspension in this one.
As for City, they were able to welcome back Sergio Aguero in the 3-2 home loss to Manchester United on Saturday, and the 30-goal striker should feature tomorrow. Their only injury absence is left-back Benjamin Mendy, and the France international is back in training after a long-term knee issue. However, he won’t be match fit in time.
Jurgen Klopp Press Conference Video: go to this link
Virgil van Dijk Press Conference Video: go to this link
Liverpool starting XI prediction: go to this link
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Odds via Bet365 Manchester City 4/9 Liverpool 5/1 Draw 15/4
Prediction: Manchester City 3, Liverpool 1
As always, feel free to post to your own Manchester City and/or Liverpool starting XI predictions, as well as your score predictions, in the comments section below.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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