Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Erling Haaland is still unavailable for Manchester City with the forward ruled out of this weekend’s trip to Newcastle.
Haaland has missed the club’s last four Premier League games due to a stress fracture in his foot, and remains unready to return to first-team action.
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The Norwegian, who is the joint-leading scorer in the Premier League this season with 14 goals from 15 games, and centre-back John Stones are confirmed absentees for the trip to St James’ Park.
Erling [Haaland] is out and John [Stones] is out. I think that is everything,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference.
There was better news on the fitness of Kevin De Bruyne, who is continuing to gain sharpness in first-team training. The Belgium international marked his first appearance in five months with an assist off the bench against Huddersfield last weekend, setting up Jeremy Doku at the Etihad.
On De Bruyne’s recovery from a hamstring issue, Guardiola said the midfielder could start at Newcastle: “Yes. From what I saw yesterday I feel good about it. He got some good minutes in training.
“He is getting better now, he will have a few days off after this game and can train in Abu Dhabi to be good for the next few months.”
Guardiola also offered support to former England and Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who this week revealed he has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
“Very sad. He is a gentleman. He has been the national manager here in England.
“He had the courage to explain the situation. Of course he will be with his loved ones and hope is the last thing we lose.
“I hope he can battle and maybe the doctors can find some way to help. He has all our support from Man City. Everything we can do we will do it.”
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