According to Sky Sports, Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane will face Manchester City in their pivotal Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night following his altercation with Arsenal defender Stephan Lichtsteiner during his team’s 5-1 win at Anfield on Saturday.
On the chalkboard
Well, Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah once again all started against the Gunners, and manager Jurgen Klopp would have been desperate for them to all come through the clash unscathed ahead of the visit to Pep Guaridola’s men on Thursday.
While that happened in terms of them staying injury-free, the fact that Mane placed his hands around the throat of Lichtsteiner in the seventh minute meant that retrospective action was always a possibility, with a potential ban seeing him miss the vital title fixture.
However, Sky Sports have now confirmed that the Senegal international will not face any FA action, which won’t be well received by one person in particular.
Bad news for Kyle Walker
Following a less than convincing display littered with errors in the defeat to Crystal Palace last month, the England international was only a late substitute against Leicester City and then didn’t come on at all against Southampton on Sunday with Danilo starting at right-back.
However, it is surely expected that he will return to the starting XI for the visit of Klopp’s men given his experience in huge games like these, and he would have been desperately hoping that Mane would be banned given the ability he has and the fact that he scored his eighth Premier League goal of the season against Arsenal.
Instead, the speedy 26-year-old is now available and will cause Walker plenty of issues with his pace and skill, and could easily play a key role in which way the result goes on Thursday night.
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