Liverpool given huge injury boost for Man City but three stars set to miss Premier League showdown

Manchester City and Liverpool both have vital midweek Champions League matches to attend to first but already attention is turning to the Premier League showdown between the pair this weekend.

City's wretched run of five straight defeats in all competitions, with three coming in the top flight, has allowed Arne Slot's men to open up an eight point advantage at the summit. The Blues cannot afford that gap to grow much bigger but have a collection of injury issues with Rodri out for the season, Oscar Bobb sidelined and doubts over John Stones.

The latter could potentially come into contention for the weekend while Pep Guardiola has only just welcomed Ruben Dias back into training and Kevin De Bruyne is still finding his optimal fitness. It means City could be somewhat depleted at Anfield but Liverpool have been handed a major boost, even if the Merseysiders too will be without key players to the weekend.

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Trent Alexander-Arnold has returned to Liverpool training having missed the weekend win over Southampton with a hamstring injury. He took part in the full session and could return against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.

But Alisson remains sidelined with the goalkeeper absent with a hamstring issue sustained in October. He is back in the gym but is not yet in full training and won't feature against City on Sunday with Caoimhin Kelleher set to continue in goal. Kostas Tsimikas is also a doubt for the weekend with an ankle issue that is set to rule him out of the midweek European action and Diogo Jota is still out.

Federico Chiesa is in contention to feature against City having stepped up his return from injury while Harvey Elliott and Jayden Danns are also on the comeback trail.