Liverpool find themselves in the midst of one of the most crucial weeks of their 2024-25 campaign, competing at the highest level across Europe’s biggest competitions. After overcoming the reigning winners Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League, the Reds now sets their sights on the Premier League title race. In a major boost, coach Arne Slot has confirmed the return of a key player ahead of Sunday’s high-stakes clash with Manchester City.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, who had been sidelined with a hamstring injury sustained during Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa in Matchday 11, is now fit and ready to start against City. Slot confirmed the news at Friday’s press conference, following a series of injury setbacks that also saw Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate forced off in the midweek clash with Real Madrid.
“Trent is fit and ready to start against Man City,” Slot said in the press conference. He also took the chance to address both Konate and Bradley situations: “They are still being assessed so difficult to see where they are in terms of the injury... Conor, I had to take him off and Ibou didn’t walk off the pitch as he should after such a fantastic game that he played. He should have made a round and clapped the fans but he couldn’t.”
Alexander-Arnold was available for the Real Madrid game but remained on the bench, with Bradley putting in a solid performance as a substitute before being replaced by Joe Gomez.
Liverpool have taken control of their Champions League table, emerging as the sole leaders, but the real test comes this Sunday when they host Manchester City in a key Premier League clash. With City struggling for form in recent weeks, Liverpool will look to capitalize on their rivals’ misfortune. A victory would see the Reds extend their run to 34 points from 13 matches, pushing the gap between them and second-place City to 11 points.
Liverpool find themselves in an ideal position to capitalize on City’s vulnerability. Pep Guardiola’s team is currently enduring one of their most difficult spells since the Spanish manager’s arrival in 2016, with five losses and one draw in their last six matches. However, despite City’s struggles, Arne Slot remains cautious ahead of the showdown.
“In the last eight or nine years or longer I don’t think anyone would have said City home or away — the word easy never comes to mind,” he stated. I know everyone is looking at their results but if you face them, you analyse it. Against Brighton they were 1-0 up, could have scored two or three and got beaten 2-1. Against Tottenham after 20 minutes they could have been two or three goals up but weren’t. Against Feyenoord that has not happened many times,” he added.
“They are still a very, very, very good team and one of the reasons I think Pep is the best manager in the world is he always comes up with solutions. His problem now might be that Rodri is out but we all know he will come up with a solution and they will go again,” he ended his statement, warning their players not to underestimate one of the most formidable teams in world soccer, even in their current struggles.
