Manchester City beat Leicester City 1-0 on Saturday to move to the top of the table. The only goal of the game came from a brilliant free kick by star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. Despite the victory, the league leaders did not exactly look very comfortable throughout the game.
Saturday was the first Premier League match of the current campaign that superstar striker Erling Haaland missed for his new club. The Norway international missed the game in Leicester due to a ligament injury in his foot. Haaland suffered the injury during his homecoming against Borussia Dortmund during a midweek Champions League match. He had to be substituted at the break to prevent further damage.
Status of Haaland’s injuries
Following Manchester City’s most recent victory, manager Pep Guardiola claimed that Haaland could be given more time to rest.
“I am pretty sure [he will] No [play] First against Sevilla because we are already classified”, Guardiola said. “Against Fulham, we’ll see. We have six or seven days until then, so we’ll see.”
The draw against Dortmund on Tuesday ensured that City will finish the Champions League group stage in first place. Although they could still finish level on points with the Bundesliga side, City have the tiebreaker against Dortmund.
City’s next Premier League game is against Fulham on Saturday 5 November. Another full week to allow Haaland to recover could go a long way in the club’s title hunt. Guardiola certainly won’t want to risk damaging the superstar further than him.
Haaland has been a huge success since arriving from Dortmund this summer. He has already managed 17 goals in just 11 Premier League games. This does not include the other five goals he scored during the Champions League game. With the current Premier League goalscoring record of 38 games being held by Mohamed Salah with 32, Haaland is already more than halfway there.
Photo Credit: IMAGO/Team 2
