New Erling Haaland injury update issued by Pep Guardiola | Football

Manchester City are hopeful the injury which sidelined Erling Haaland at the weekend is not serious.

The Norway striker missed City’s 1-0 Premier League victory at Leeds on Saturday with an unspecified problem sustained in training prior to the game.

Manager Pep Guardiola did not give a clear indication of when the 25-year-old might return but it is understood that the issue is not a major concern.

Haaland, who has scored 29 goals in all competitions this season, will be assessed on Monday and Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium.

‘I don’t have an answer right now,’ said Guardiola after the game at Elland Road. ‘He was not ready for today but we have four days before Nottingham Forest and after, three days to the FA Cup at Newcastle at 8pm.’

He then made a pointed swipe about the kick-off time for next Saturday’s fifth-round tie at St James’ Park.

‘Thank you so much for that time, to go better to Madrid with less recovery, thank you,’ said Guardiola.

Nico O’Reilly, who was withdrawn after 70 minutes at Leeds with an ankle injury, will also be checked.

City defender Rayan Ait-Nouri, meanwhile, believes the Premier League title race will go down to the wire.

The Gunners regained their five-point advantage with victory over Chelsea on Sunday, but City still have a game in hand and the two title rivals are set to clash at the Etihad Stadium on April 18.

Ait-Nouri told City’s official website: ‘It will go until the end. We need to keep pushing like this until the end. We need to play like 10 more games, if I’m not wrong.

‘We’ll take (it) game per game and we will see what happens in the end. We will be ready for this game (at home against Nottingham Forest) on Wednesday.’

After Leeds squandered several early first-half chances, Pep Guardiola’s side controlled large chunks of the game and held out after coming under heavy pressure in the closing stages.

‘It was a very tough game against a strong team,” Ait-Nouri said. “You know, the atmosphere, it was crazy. It’s good for for us to take the three points.

‘We know the league is very hard. Every team, they are strong. We need to keep pushing like this.

‘To play this team, who play with a lot of confidence, and to play in this way is very good for us, but it’s not finished. We need to keep pushing on. We need to be focused on the next game (on) Wednesday.’

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