Arne Slot has confirmed Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold will be ready to start against Manchester City this weekend in one of the most important games of the entire Premier League campaign.TAA didn’t clock a minute against Real Madrid on Wednesday as he was an unused substitute but he will be in contention for the starting XI for the City tie.The right-back suffered a hamstring injury and, after a period of recovery, he’ll be available for the clash against Pep Guardiola’s side.Man City is painful to watch, so much that it hurts Pep. Literally!Meanwhile, Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate picked up injuries in the Champions League clash with Los Blancos.”(They are) still being assessed, so difficult to see where they are in terms of the injury,” Slot said during his pre-match press conference.”Let’s wait and see but it is never a good sign. Conor, I had to take him off, and Ibou didn’t walk off the pitch as he should after such a fantastic game. He should have made a round and clapped the fans but he couldn’t.”Aside from Konate and Bradley, the list of Liverpool’s absentees has the likes of Alisson, Diogo Jota, Federico Chiesa and Kostas Tsimikas on it.##NAJAVA_MECA_8538318##Talking about the upcoming derby, Slot said he expects a tough challenge from the defending champions despite their winless streak.”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.”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. They were 3-0 up and completely dominated the game.Slot’s comment on Pep’s Man City contract extension is somewhat unexpected”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 that 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,” concluded Slot.ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 13Friday 23.00: (1.42) Brighton (5.30) Southampton (7.50)Saturday 18.00: (1.67) Brentford (3.80) Leicester (5.30)18.00: (3.05) Crystal Palace (3.50) Newcastle (2.45)18.00: (1.80) Nott.Forest (3.70) Ipswich (5.00)18.00: (2.85) Wolverhampton (3.40) Bournemouth (2.45)20.30: (7.20) West Ham (4.75) Arsenal (1.48)Sunday 16.30: (1.75) Chelsea (4.10) Aston Villa (4.70)16.30: (1.53) Man.Utd. (4.10) Everton (6.50)16.30: (1.70) Tottenham (4.15) Fulham (4.50)19.00: (2.15) Liverpool (3.90) Man.City (3.25)***odds are subject to change***
