Manchester City manager says he will heavily rotate his squad against Huddersfield
Pep Guardiola is “hopeful” Erling Haaland can recover in time for the club’s weekend fixture against Burnley, after the striker was forced off with a back problem during Manchester City’s draw with Arsenal.
Haaland was heavily involved all over the pitch for City at the Emirates, scoring the opener in the 9th minute and also putting in a lot of defensive work as the Sky Blues retreated under pressure. But he then asked to be substituted in the 76th minute when he felt he couldn’t continue, according to his manager.
Guardiola reported on Tuesday that the Norwegian was yet to train this week, but was optimistic he would be available on Saturday.
“Hopefully he can play at the weekend,” said City’s head coach. “It’s been such a demanding week – the last game especially [against Arsenal] – and sometimes the players have problems.
“I think he will be fine for the weekend. I hope so.”
Even if fit, the player was always likely to be rested for Wednesday’s trip to Huddersfield. Guardiola’s side travel to Yorskhire to face the League One side in the third round of the Carabao Cup and will almost certainly field fringe players.
“It won’t be the same starting XI as the last three games,” said Guardiola. “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 and Omar [Marmoush] but there are many players who can’t play because they are injured. We will try to compete and go through.”
