Graham Potter has recalled Alexander Isak to Sweden’s squad and indicated the striker could feature for Liverpool against Manchester City this weekend. Potter described Isak as \u201cavailable\u201d ahead of November\u2019s World Cup qualifiers against Switzerland and Slovenia, while also conceding the forward has not returned to full fitness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see this weekend. Hopefully he can play against Manchester City and be with us in M\u00e1laga,\u201d the English coach told Fotbollskanalen. \u201cBut Alex is not ready to play 90 minutes in two games in four days,\u201d Potter warned. The Sweden manager\u2019s comments follow Arne Slot\u2019s earlier assessment that Isak would \u201cdefinitely not\u201d start against City because he had not yet returned to team training ahead of Liverpool\u2019s midweek Champions League victory with Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
Isak\u2019s availability complicates selection for Slot, who this season has expressed concern over the squad\u2019s depth following a summer spend of \u00a3420 million ($549.4 million). With Isak back in the fold, Liverpool are missing only three players, though that still leaves Slot to balance fitness and form. Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 has made a strong case to retain his starting spot throughout the season\u2014with or without Isak in contention\u2014but the nature of the opposition may influence the manager\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n
Slot\u2019s tactical approach to Manchester City last season provides a guide to how he might respond. In both meetings with Pep Guardiola he did not deploy a recognised striker, instead opting for a mobile false-nine pairing. Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai operated as a roving front duo at the Etihad last February, each getting on the scoresheet in a 3\u20130 victory.<\/p>\n
Selection decisions and minutes management will be key if Isak is included this weekend, as Liverpool weigh his fitness against the demands of facing Manchester City and the club\u2019s recent fixture schedule. Current injuries listed include Giovanni Leoni (knee, expected return August 2026), Alisson (hamstring, expected return Nov. 22, 2025) and Jeremie Frimpong (hamstring).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Potter calls up Alexander Isak and says he is available for Liverpool’s match against Man City. plus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,1056],"tags":[195,299,1047],"class_list":["post-4289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-man-city","tag-alexander-isak","tag-arne-slot","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}