Virgil Van Dijk has revealed that Liverpool have identified a plan to make the task of stopping Erling Haaland easier this weekend.
Haaland has featured in 13 of City's 14 matches so far this season, scoring a staggering 20 goals and claiming three assists. Next up for his side is a trip to Anfield on Sunday.
City boss Pep Guardiola opted to keep Haaland on the bench as his side drew 0-0 with Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday night. The decision was perhaps made with Liverpool in mind.
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However, Van Dijk and his team-mates will take heart from the fact they managed to successfully keep Haaland out in his first domestic appearance for City back in August as Liverpool beat the Etihad club 3-1 in the Community Shield at the King Power.
"It's definitely not easy – he’s been on fire, you can’t say anything else," Van Dijk told TV2 when asked how his side plan to keep the forward out.
"I remember after the Community Shield where a lot of people have been writing him off, I remember I was saying, ‘listen, this guy is going to cause so many defenders nightmares’.
“He’s shown it, he’s been showing a consistent level and obviously in a team like City where chances will always come."
And when asked how Liverpool will plan to stop Haaland, Van Dijk replied: "We have to try to stop the balls going to him, defend at the highest level, and be at our best, and that’s what we always have to be against City and that’s not going to be any different on Sunday.
"It’s something we should look forward to, it’s definitely not me against him, it’s all of us versus all of them.
“It’s the outside world that creates battles, one versus one and all this stuff. We want to stop them scoring, regardless of who it is on the pitch. But we know he’s quite good."
But despite his impressive form in front of goal so far this season, Van Dijk offered a rather diplomatic response when asked if the Norway international was currently the best player in the world.
He said: "Wow, I know for a fact he’s scoring a lot of goals for fun and that’s very important to win games and that’s been showing.
"He’s a very good goalscorer, let’s keep it that way, and hopefully we can stop him from scoring on Sunday, we need to be at our very best to do that, but like I said, it’s all of us versus all of them."
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