Every Word: Pep Guardiola’s pre-Liverpool press conference | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has addressed the media on the eve of his side’s Premier League showdown with Liverpool.

City will look to secure a vital three points as they begin the final push to secure a third consecutive Premier League title, with challengers Arsenal currently holding an eight-point lead heading into the weekend’s fixtures.

Last time out, Pep Guardiola’s squad booked their place in the Emirates FA Cup semi-finals with a 6-0 win over Burnley at the Etihad Stadium – a contest that also featured yet another Erling Haaland hat-trick.

However, the fitness of the Norwegian has been thrown into doubt ahead of the weekend’s clash against Jurgen Klopp’s squad, after Haaland sustained a groin injury against Vincent Kompany’s side that forced a withdrawal from international commitments.

The fitness of Erling Haaland was among several significant talking points at Pep Guardiola’s pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, as the Manchester City boss previewed the weekend’s challenge.

Here is every word from the boss at the City Football Academy on Friday afternoon!

On his squad’s fitness

“Phil (Foden) had surgery and Erling (Haaland) is in recovery. We will see how he feels after the training session (today).”

“The doctor says two or three weeks (until Phil Foden returns). We will see how he develops after his appendicitis surgery.”

“We see today (whether Erling Haaland can feature against Liverpool) and at the end the doctor and especially the player will decide. We will see, we will see what happens.”

On Liverpool

“We know each other for many years, so one more. They remain an exceptional team. My opinion doesn’t change (despite Liverpool’s current season).”

“They can beat everyone, like we can beat everyone. One game is one game.”

On a possible treble success

“It’s so difficult. Ok, we have this game, but we have a tough, tough schedule with many games. After many, many years, we are fighting for that. We are in all competitions, that is awesome. The most important thing is we are fighting for everything, three things, that is so good. Winning is good but sustaining it for 10/11 months is so difficult. Still, we are there.”

On an Erling Haaland absence changing plans vs Liverpool

“Football is about the quality of the players. Haaland has his skills, Julian (Alvarez) has his own skills. It depends, most of the players came back yesterday, we could not do much, today a little bit. Today is the last assessment.”

On the overall health of his squad ahead of a challenging run

“All the season we had mainly all the squad available, but at times you have periods with a lot of injuries. With this amount of games, with just 11 or 12 players, it does not happen, everyone has to be involved.”