Pep Guardiola delivers Erling Braut Haaland injury update ahead of Wednesday’s Premier League showdown with Arsenal

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was unable to provide an update on Erling Braut Haaland’s fitness when speaking to the press ahead of Wednesday’s Premier League showdown with Arsenal.

Haaland was taken off at half time in City’s 3-1 victory at home against Aston Villa on Sunday after sustaining what was described as a “big knock” by Guardiola after the game.

“He has a big knock. He was uncomfortable,” Guardiola told reporters. “At 3-0 we did not want to take a risk. We will see. We will assess in the next day.

“If he is not available, we will play another one. Hopefully he is available. We will see in the next days.”

The Citizens were handed a major boost on Monday, though, after Haaland was spotted taking part in a recovery session with his teammates at City Football Academy.

Guardiola spoke about Haaland’s current fitness status during his pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday.

When Guardiola was specifically asked about Haaland’s fitness on Tuesday, he replied: “We train this afternoon. Right now I don’t know. Yesterday was about recovery from Aston Villa. That’s all.”

Since scoring his fourth hat-trick of the season in the 3-0 Premier League win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at the end of last month – taking his goal tally in all tournaments to 31 – Haaland has endured a dry patch in front of goal as he has failed to score in his last three matches, albeit playing only 45 minutes in his most recent outing.

City will be hopeful of seeing their Norwegian No.9 named on the teamsheet come Wednesday night, but Julian Alvarez will be waiting in the wings if needed.

Guardiola’s side head to North London sitting three points behind leaders Arsenal, who have dropped points in their last two league fixtures against Everton and Brentford.