Erling Haaland has offered his Manchester City teammates some support following their disappointing draw with Crystal Palace. Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis handed the Premier League champions a two-goal lead before eventually blowing their lead in stoppage time.
Jean-Philippe Mateta halved the deficit for Roy Hodgson’s side with a quarter of an hour left on the clock before Phil Foden conceded a penalty in the final moments of the tie. Michael Olise beat Ederson from 12-yards, granting Arsenal and Liverpool the chance to extend their advantage over City in the Premier League title race.
The Gunners will lock horns with Brighton at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon before Jurgen Klopp’s side faces Manchester United at Anfield. Aston Villa could also go four points clear of City if they manage to defeat Brentford.
While Guardiola publicly blasted his players after the draw to Palace, Haaland took a more gentle approach. Taking to Instagram, the Norway international posted an image of the pitch upon the final whistle with the caption: “[Praying emoji and blue heart emoji].”
Haaland has now missed City’s last three matches due to a foot injury. As Liverpool begin to break away from the reigning champions, Guardiola will be desperate to welcome back the Norwegian as soon as possible.
Discussing Haaland’s situation in a press conference on Friday, Guardiola said: “[He] arrived today, we see the doctors and we will see. He’s had treatment [away.] Hopefully he can travel to Saudi [for the Club World Cup], after the game [vs Palace on Saturday], we see if he plays the first or second game.”
Then, when pressed on if he’s concerned about a lengthy absence, Guardiola added: “No. It’s not fractured, just stressed. Sometimes players recover quickly, longer. Day by day, week by week, how he feels. The moment he doesn’ t have pain he will play.”
Not only is Haaland currently out of action for City, but so is Kevin De Bruyne. The 32-year-old midfielder tweaked a longstanding hamstring issue in the first-half of the Champions League final last season.
Upon his return, De Bruyne then suffered a recurrence of the injury on the opening weekend of the new season, withdrawing from City’s win over Burnley after just 23 minutes. Guardiola’s side has suffered tremendously in each of their absences, but the Premier League title race is far from over.