Manchester City could soon welcome back Ederson and Erling Haaland as they continue to challenge for the Premier League title alongside Liverpool.
City have been without Haaland for their last nine matches in all competitions due to a foot injury sustained by the Norwegian back in December. Pep Guardiola’s side has seen strangely their form improving in the absence of the 23-year-old, winning eight games and drawing the other.
Guardiola’s side are next in action on January 26 when they take on Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup before facing Premier League fixtures with Burnley (January 31) and Brentford (February 5).
There is the possibility Haaland could be back for all three of these head-to-heads, as confirmed by Guardiola at his pre-Newcastle press conference last week.
“The doctors decided to stop him for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi,” the City boss explained.
“Hopefully at the end of this month he’ll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning. It’s a bone, it needs time. Every injury you can do whatever you want but it’s a question of time. Now we have two games but when you were injured at the end of November, you missed a lot of games. And we missed him. We need him. Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem.”
The reigning champions were dealt another injury blow during their comeback win at Newcastle United on Saturday, Ederson was forced off during the early stages of the contest. Offering an update on the Brazilian after full-time, Guardiola remarked: “He didn’t walk well as he left the pitch,” admitted Guardiola post-match. But if it is just a knock he will be fine because we have a break for 10 days. If there is some damage, the doctors will tell me.”
Liverpool don’t play City again in the league until March 9, which will be at Anfield, by which point Haaland will have been back in the side for a number of weeks and regained his rhythm.