Erling Haaland does start for Manchester City for their crunch crash against Liverpool today.
There had been rumours that the striker would be benched in favour of Omar Marmoush, who netted a brace in midweek against Newcastle.
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That, however, isn’t the case, with the pair starting together at Anfield.
“Always I said, Erling is the best striker in the world,” said Guardiola on Friday when asked if Haaland will come straight back into the side. “I don’t know. We will see tomorrow. Always, I say Erling is the best.”
Elsewhere, Ruben Dias is again in the matchday squad, but is only fit enough for the bench as he returns from injury.
Dias was back among the substitutes for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win after almost a month out with a hamstring problem but Abdukodir Khusanov is preferred to the Portuguese here.
Asked on Friday whether Dias will start, Pep Guardiola said: “We’ll see. But it’s good news for us.”
Matheus Nunes and Rayan Ait-Nouri complete the back four.
It looks as though Bernardo Silva will play wide right, with Antoine Semenyo on the left, with Silva, the club captain, overcoming a knock against Tottenham to make the XI here.
John Stones is back in training after his thigh injury but this game is likely to come too soon.
Jeremy Doku, Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic and Savinho are all still sidelined.
Starting Man City XI (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; O’Reilly, Rodri; Silva, Marmoush, Semenyo; Haaland
Subs: Trafford, Dias, Reijnders, Ake, Cherki, Gonzalez, Foden, Alleyne, Lewis
Injured: Doku, Savinho, Gvardiol, Kovacic
Time and date: 4:30pm GMT on Sunday February 8, 2026
Venue: Anfield
How to watch: Sky Sports
