Erling Haaland injury latest as Everton and Liverpool face anxious wait

Both Liverpool and Everton will be wincing as Manchester City confirmed Erling Haaland's return to training on Wednesday.

As the reigning champions began their slip down the Premier League standings with four draws and one loss from their last six matches, they were further impacted by the loss of leading goalscorer Erling Haaland.

Pep Guardiola confirmed caution would be taken as the Norwegian was impacted by a stress injury to a bone in his foot, with no timeline placed on a return to action.

Fortunately City did not need their talisman to breeze through the semi-finals of the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, easily defeating Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0, but now it seems he is back to health.

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At midday on Wednesday, the club's French X, formerly known as Twitter, account posted the first images of Haaland back in training:

In the coming weeks, and indeed months, this will have an impact on both top-flight Merseyside clubs.

For Liverpool, they will be watching on hoping the striker fails to rediscover his finishing touch having not found the net so far in December. This is mainly down to the current state of the title race.

Jurgen Klopp's men occupy second in the table, four points ahead of fourth-placed City and with the chance to leapfrog leaders Arsenal in their next match. After that they play Burnley and due to the fact Guardiola's team are competing at the Club World Cup currently, it means the Reds could open up a 10-point gap before their rivals next kick a ball in English football.

This next part directly concerns Everton, as they are the ones who welcome