Good afternoon, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will speak to the press in around 10 minutes ahead of his side's big match against Manchester City. The fixture is this week's Monday evening match, and sees last season's top two go head-to-head.

While this is primarily a pre-match press conference, it would be a surprise if Rodgers wasn't asked about the seemingly imminent arrival of Mario Balotelli from AC Milan. The Italian international is believed to be flying to England to undergo a medical at Melwood this afternoon.

Liverpool made a winning start to the season last Sunday, with Daniel Sturridge finding a winner late on against Southampton. It's a difficult start to the season for the Reds, with matches against Tottenham and Everton coming up in their next four outings.

There has been little between the two sides in recent years. Both sides won their home fixtures last year, while a pre-season meeting in the International Champions Cup ending in a 2-2 draw, although it was Liverpool who got the win on penalties in that tie.

As well as more Balotelli news, we can expect injury updates, transfer speculation and potentially questions about the Crystal Palace vacancy, as several managers have still been commenting on the job during their pre-match briefings this week.

It would appear that Rodgers is running a few minutes late this afternoon, could he have been delayed by the arrival of Balotelli? The striker is due to arrive for his medical any time.

Just a reminder that you can follow live updates from this match with Sports Mole on Monday evening. Before then, we'll have our match preview, team news and more build up, as well as post-match reaction and player ratings, so don't forget to join us throughout the weekend.

While we're waiting for Rodgers, why not keep an eye on our live Transfer Talk blog, which will keep you up to date with all the Balotelli developments as well as movements elsewhere.

While Balotelli has stolen the majority of the transfer headlines at Liverpool this week, Samuel Eto'o has also been linked with the club in recent days, while Alberto Moreno will also be available to make his debut after completing his move to Anfield from Sevilla last Saturday.

A little later than originally billed, Rodgers makes his way in ready to talk to the media, let's see what he has to say...

Straight to the topic of the day, Rodgers is cagey when asked about the Balotelli move: "I can categorically tell you that I can't speak about Mario Balotelli or any players until we sign them."

Sticking with the subject of the transfer market, Rodgers adds: "We don't have too much to do in the transfer market. A lot of work went on early on. Always said we were looking for another striker. If we can do deals for any more players that'll be great, but come the end of August I'm sure I'll be happy with what we've got."

Rodgers also hints that there may be some departures before the window closes in just over a week: "Every player that is here now is clear as to whether I see them as a squad player or not. We'll see if there's opportunity for players to move on before the end of August if they want to do that."

While Rodgers insisted that he would "categorically" not be talking about Balotelli, it certainly sounds like he's hinting about the move as he discusses the kind of player that he'd be interesting in signing: "No player would come into here if I felt it couldn't work. If I can help the person, then it's something I will look at too. People who know me well will tell you I look to try and develop the player and the person. Thankfully we have that culture here. I've shown before that as long as players care and want to learn, we can give them the opportunity to develop."

INJURY UPDATE: Turning his attention to Monday evening's clash, Rodgers updates reporters on his squad: "Lazar Markovic is back in the squad for Monday. Adam Lallana is in the latter stages of his rehabilitation. Adam Lallana will train with the team on Sunday. We've now got to get him up to match speed. We'll see how Jose Enrique does, Daniel Agger and Jon Flanagan are still out."

Rodgers is asked about the match itself and the type of game that he is expecting. He replies: "We'll go to Man City with no fear, as we've done before. We'll attack the game. The nature of both teams is the offensive game, but they're normally tight games. Lots of invention and creativity. Both teams will want to score. We know we need to press well and control the game. We can hurt teams, it'll be a good game for sure."

Back on the subject of transfers, Rodgers tells reporters: "Sometimes you have to take a risk with people, but a lot of the time if you take that risk you get a reward for it. t's not easy finding new players as there's a small pool of players we could actually buy, but a lot of good work is going on. We're not plucking players out of the sky. A lot of hard work goes into finding and speaking to these players."

One such player that has already completed his move to Anfield is Alberto Moreno. When asked about him, Rodgers says: "Moreno comes in with a good mentality, still young. I expect him to show he's a real attacking player that fits Liverpool perfectly." With Jose Enrique a doubt for the match, Moreno could start in his place for Liverpool.

Well that's all from Rodgers today. It's interesting that he chose to "categorically" not talk about Balotelli, he used the same words when ruling out a move for the Italian during the International Champions Cup earlier in the summer. Elsewhere, Liverpool fans will be pleased to hear that new signings Lazar Markovic will be in the squad, while Adam Lallana is also nearing a return.

So that's it from Melwood today, but stick around as we'll be hearing from Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal shortly, and join us again on Monday to see whether Liverpool can beat the Premier League champions. Until then, thanks for joining me this afternoon, goodbye.