Pep Guardiola is hopeful Erling Haaland will be able to recover quickly from the back injury that forced him off during the 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
Haaland was surprisingly withdrawn after 76 minutes at the Emirates with Guardiola clarifying afterwards that the Norway forward asked to be substituted after complaining of pain in his back.
Haaland is likely to sit out the trip to Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
But Guardiola believes the 25-year-old could return for Burnley’s visit to the the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
“Recovery yesterday [Monday], he didn’t train and I didn’t see him and the rest of the players yet today,” Guardiola said at his news conference on Tuesday.
“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.”
Guardiola has picked the same starting XI for City’s last three games against Manchester United, Napoli and Arsenal.
But he has confirmed he will make changes for the game against Huddersfield with Haaland not the only big name set for a night off.
“It won’t be the same starting XI as the last three games,” Guardiola said.
“The only problem for the Carabao Cup is we respect this competition but arriving at the competition with no injuries and we have injuries.
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“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.”
Despite making changes, there’s unlikely to be a recall for Kalvin Phillips.
The midfielder is back at City following loan moves to West Ham and Ipswich. He’s working his way back to full fitness after an Achilles injury, but the 29-year-old is set to miss out on a place in the squad against Huddersfield.
“Today [Tuesday] he is in London because he will be a father for the second time,” Guardiola said.
“He’s coming back, training with us and we will see what happens. He’s coming from surgery so now has to make training sessions and maybe some minutes in some games.”
