Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, said on Friday that Erling Haaland is healthy enough to play against Southampton on Saturday in the Premier League.
Haaland missed City’s 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool last weekend owing to an injury to his groin, which prevented him from playing for Norway at the international level. Haaland has scored 42 goals this season.
His comeback gives City’s effort to clinch a treble of trophies in the season’s final two months a much-needed boost.
“He trained exceptionally well the previous two days, “Guardiola added. “He’ll be prepared.”
Only three days after their journey to St. Mary’s, City welcomes Bayern Munich to the Etihad for the opening leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.
But, Guardiola insisted that his whole attention was on catching up to Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
While City has a game in hand over Mikel Arteta’s team and will visit Arsenal at the Etihad later this month, the Gunners still lead by eight points.
“Our final consideration is about Berlin, “the City manager remarked. The Premier League is there every day and every week in Southampton.”
Southampton, who are now last in the standings, upset City by knocking the English champions out of the League Cup in their most recent meeting.
Guardiola anticipates another challenging test for City, which has only triumphed twice in their last five trips to Saint Mary’s.
Every squad is now competing for something, “added he. “Southampton have always been extremely difficult, and every game has its own features.
“The game has always been really difficult. That won’t be an exception tomorrow.”
