Haaland out of Brighton clash, confirms Man City boss Guardiola

Manchester City will be without Erling Haaland when they take on Brighton, Pep Guardiola has confirmed.

Haaland missed Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Chelsea with a muscular injury he sustained against Real Madrid last week.

And the issue will also see the striker, who has scored 20 Premier League goals this season, miss out against the Seagulls on Thursday.

“Erling is not ready for tomorrow,” said Guardiola, who added that City will be able to call on Phil Foden and John Stones.

“It’s not a big issue but he’s not available.”

PEP (On injury update) Erling [Haaland] is not ready for tomorrow. The other two [Phil Foden and John Stones] are ready. pic.twitter.com/AMkFJ8wg2G

— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 24, 2024

Haaland has scored, on average, every 109 minutes in the league this season.

However, the Norwegian has actually underperformed his expected goals (xG) of 23.7.

He has also chipped in with five assists, giving him an overall goal contributions tally of 25. Haaland has created 28 goalscoring chances for team-mates across the campaign.

After Arsenal’s 5-0 thrashing of Chelsea on Tuesday, reigning Premier League champions Manchester City sit four points off the summit in third place, albeit with two games in hand.

Second-place Liverpool will aim to move level on points with the Gunners by beating Merseyside rivals Everton on Wednesday.