Erling Haaland “ready” to return from injury for Manchester City against Southampton; striker missed last weekend’s win over Liverpool; watch Southampton vs Manchester City live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League from 5pm on Saturday; kick-off 5.30pm
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland is “ready” to return for their Premier League game at Southampton on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.
Haaland missed last weekend’s 4-1 home win over Liverpool with a groin injury, but the 22-year-old returned to training earlier this week and Guardiola confirmed his availability for the trip to St Mary’s Stadium.
“Erling trained the last two days, really good,” the Spaniard said. “He will be ready.”
And Guardiola said he was not giving any thought to managing Haaland’s minutes ahead of next week’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich.
“Bayern Munich is the last thought,” he added. “It’s Southampton. The Premier League is every day, every week.”
Haaland has scored 42 goals in 37 games in all competitions this season for City, including six hat-tricks, while the Norwegian also leads the Premier League Golden Boot race on 28 goals, six ahead of Tottenham’s Harry Kane.
Pep: Even I’m not safe from the sack
Guardiola has insisted even he is not safe from the sack as the demands at Premier League clubs become ever greater.
A record 12 managers have been shown the door in the top flight this season – not counting Graham Potter’s decision to leave Brighton for Chelsea – and Guardiola believes the culture in England has changed.
“The results are important but it’s if the plan works,” Guardiola said. “In this country, when I was younger, they always had the tradition to keep managers. Today, with different owners and a lot of pressure and a lot of investment… in one side, I understand.
“Everyone has a lot of pressure. The manager, the board. People believe in changing things because they believe they can be better. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. All the managers know. If it doesn’t happen, you always take a risk.”
Asked if he had managed to avoid ever being sacked by knowing the right moment to leave a club, Guardiola said: “I’ll tell you a secret: we win games. If we didn’t win games, I would be sacked. I’m not sacked because we’ve won a lot of games during these years.”
The trip to Southampton is another opportunity to put pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal, who must wait until Sunday for their away match at Liverpool, live on Sky Sports.
Guardiola was clear about the stakes, but played down any advantage in going first.
“If we drop points, Arsenal will be champions in advance,” he said. “If we win, we could be champions on the last day. We are used to it, so it’s not a problem.
“I don’t see an advantage (in playing first). Sometimes when we’ve made a title race with Liverpool we’ve been before or later.”
Even with the Saints bottom of the league, Guardiola said he and City would not underestimate the challenge.
“Now every team is playing for something, it’s the same important fight for the Premier League,” he said. “Every game has its own characteristics and you have to be ready, Southampton have always been so tough.
“Since the year we got 100 points in the 94th minute, the game we won they were much better than us. Always it’s been a tough, tough game. Tomorrow won’t be an exception.”
Man City’s remaining fixtures
Saturday: Southampton (A) – Premier League, kick-off 5.30pm, live on Sky Sports
Tuesday: Bayern Munich (H) – Champions League, kick-off 8pm
April 15: Leicester (H) – Premier League, kick-off 5.30pm, live on Sky Sports
April 19: Bayern Munich (A) – Champions League, kick-off 8pm
April 22: Sheffield United (N) – FA Cup, kick-off 4.45pm
April 26: Arsenal (H) – Premier League, kick-off 8pm
April 30: Fulham (A) – Premier League, kick-off 2pm, live on Sky Sports
May 3: West Ham (H) – Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports
May 7: Leeds United (H) – Premier League, kick-off 2pm, live on Sky Sports
May 14: Everton (A) – Premier League, kick-off 2pm, live on Sky Sports
May 20: Chelsea (H) – Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 28: Brentford (A) – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm
TBA: Brighton (A) – Premier League