As Manchester City heads into a midweek clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday, we have a ton of storylines to discuss, and these are in addition to those that pertain to the Premier League title race. The Erling Haaland acquisition will soon be announced, and you can read more on that here. And this deal has prompted Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp to state his belief that the Haaland contract will “set new levels” in the transfer market.
In an exclusive interview with Sky, the German said: “I signed a new contract knowing that City would not stop developing. It’s not about City to define if we can be happy or not, it’s about us and what we can make of it.
Man City at Wolves FYIs
Kick: Molineux Stadium, Wed. 11 May, 20:15 (UK).
TV: live in the UK on Sky Sports
MCFC Starting XI Prediction: go here
After Extra Time Podcast: Spotify Apple Podcasts
PL Form: Man City WWWWD Wolves DLLLW
PL Position: Man City 1st, 86 pts Wolves 8th, 50 pts
Google Result Probability: Man City 77% Draw 15% Wolves 8%
Pep vs Klopp
“You have so many opportunities and so many different ways to win a football game, and we have to find just one. It’s possible obviously and we can do that.
“We face City two, three – with cup competitions, the Champions League – five, six times maybe a year but not more often than all the rest.
“If Erling Haaland goes there, it will not weaken them, definitely not. I think there’s enough spoken about this transfer. I know there is a lot of talk out there about money, but this transfer will set new levels, let me say it like this.”
The two mentality giants of managers have been trading barbs on other topics too. Guardiola said that he thinks the whole country is rooting for Liverpool to win the league title, which prompted Klopp to jokingly say that it’s not even true in the city of Liverpool- where you have a lot of Everton fans, obviously.
Team News
Pep said on Sunday, after his side crushed Newcastle 5-0 that Ruben Dias, John Stones and Kyle Walker will all miss the remaining three matches of the season. So City do have a bit of a defensive crisis here to deal with.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.