Erling Haaland has been left out of Manchester City’s starting line-up to face Leicester City after picking up an injury midweek, according to reports. The Norwegian superstar looks set to miss out on a place in Pep Guardiola’s first XI having faced a race against time to be fit for Saturday’s midday clash, with leaked team news suggesting he won’t start at the King Power Stadium.
The 22-year-old has appeared in every Premier League match this season and has swept the top flight, scoring 17 goals in just 11 appearances at a rate of one goal every 54 minutes.
But the Norwegian talisman will miss out on City’s starting XI for their clash with Leicester after Guardiola called him a physical doubt for the clash.
Haaland was substituted at half-time for the Catalan manager during the Champions League’s goalless draw with Borussia Dortmund and it later emerged that Haaland had injured his foot against his former club, with Guardiola admitting he faced a run against the Time to prove your fitness.
“He feels better, but we train this afternoon and we will evaluate in these few hours,” Guardiola said. “We’ll see how he feels. Then we’ll decide: I’ll know in two hours if he can play.
“After the [Dortmund] game everyone trained well. I have to wait for people to come back to find out exactly how they feel.”
Guardiola confirmed that Ederson would be fit to start the game and provided an encouraging update on Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips, who will miss the rest of City’s games before the World Cup in a bid to recover in time for the announcement of the game. Gareth Southgate team. .
While there is no official confirmation that Haaland will not be a guaranteed starter for the game, leaked news reports from the City squad have suggested that Haaland is out of the squad altogether, while Phil Foden will not be included in the starting eleven while Guardiola shuffles the package. .
The news is likely to anger Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers, with Haaland owning 8.9 million players, an astonishing 83 per cent of total managers in the popular game. Haaland has been a popular captain’s choice this season after incredible goalscoring feats.
But with Haaland now seemingly out of the squad, the burden of finding the back of the net may be left to Julián Álvarez, the £18m signing from River Plate. The 22-year-old has already scored twice in the league this season having impressed off the bench and will be looking to impress in his absence.
He is likely to start alongside Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez in a much-changed City front row as Guardiola attempts to overtake Arsenal as league leader, albeit without their star Haaland.
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