Pep Guardiola announced bad news about Haaland after Man City’s 3-1 comeback win at Everton Stadium, round 19 of the Premier League.
Man City (37 points) returned to the top 4 on the rankings when playing their 18th match in the tournament, meaning they still have 1 game in hand compared to leading team Liverpool (42 points).
Despite having a stronger position than the host, Man City let Everton take the lead in the 29th minute thanks to Jack Harrison’s goal. With this goal, Pep Guardiola’s team set an unwanted record, conceding the 8th match in a row, something that happened to them at the end of 2018 and early 2019.
However, the bravery of the Premier League champion and the brilliance of individuals brought Man City back, successfully going upstream with a 3-1 victory, in which Phil Foden was the most impressive.
The England star scored a classy shot, equalizing 1-1 for Man City in the 53rd minute, before Julian Alvarez successfully scored a penalty to give the home team a 2-1 lead to Everton in the 64th minute. And Bernardo Silva talented, who assisted Foden to score, sealing the 3-1 victory for Man City with a beautiful, classy goal.
Having got the 3 points needed to keep the championship race with Liverpool and Arsenal, Pep Guardiola and Man City cannot help but worry because the worry of injury continues to come uninvited.
While De Bruyne was just getting ready to return after 4 months on the sidelines, John Stones also did not play regularly this season due to injury, and had an ankle problem that forced Pep Guardiola to replace him in the 43rd minute, when Man City is still leading 1-0 against Everton.
And yet, the Green Man captain also provided bad news about key striker Erling Haaland, with a return time longer than expected, likely not until the end of January 2024.
Haaland has currently missed Man City’s last 6 matches in all competitions, since being injured in the 0-1 loss to Aston Villa on December 7. He and his team went to Saudi Arabia to attend the FIFA Club World Cup but were not on the registration list.
“Haaland is training separately, cannot practice with the whole team yet. The pain hasn’t gone away for him.
When Haaland can return to practice and play, it depends on what the medical team says about his recovery results. Hopefully Haaland can return to us in January…”.