Manchester City faced a 1-1 draw against Arsenal in their fifth Premier League match of the season on September 21 at Emirates Stadium.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for Man City just nine minutes into the clash from an assist by Tijjani Reijnders. Gabriel Martinelli, who came off the bench in the 80th minute, netted the equalizer for Arsenal after being set up by Eberechi Eze three minutes into second-half stoppage time.
Haaland was seen leaving the pitch in the 76th minute after experiencing a sharp pain in his back and was replaced by Nico Gonzalez.
Now, as Man City are headed to face Huddersfield Town in the third round of the Carabao Cup on September 24, head coach Pep Guardiola has provided an update on Haaland’s injury, highlighting the struggles in the ‘demanding week’ that his squad endured with several games across competitions.
Man City’s Bernardo Silva also voiced his complaints about the schedule following the match at the Emirates, mentioning that they were met with a big ‘disadvantage in terms of rest.’
What did Man City boss Pep Guardiola say?
While addressing the press on Tuesday, Guardiola mentioned that he hopes Haaland to return to action in their upcoming Premier League clash this weekend and said,
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“Recovery yesterday [Monday], he didn’t train and I didn’t see him and the rest of the players yet today. Hopefully he can play at the weekend. It’s been such a demanding week, the last game especially, and sometimes the players have problems. I think he will be fine for the weekend. I hope so,” as per GOAL.
The Catalan manager also confirmed that he plans on heavily rotating players for the starting squad in the Carabao Cup game amid injuries, and added,
“It won’t be the same starting XI as the last three games. The only problem for the Carabao Cup is we respect this competition but arriving at the competition with no injuries and we have injuries.”
“It will be a mix with academy players to play because the priority is Burnley, Monaco and Brentford. It would have been perfect for [Rayan] Cherki, [Rayan] Ait-Nouri, Omar [Marmoush] but there are many players who can’t play because they are injured. We will try to compete and go through.”
Following the Carabao Cup clash against Huddersfield, Guardiola & Co. will be hosting Burnley at the Etihad for their next league match on September 27.
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