Pep Guardiola drops hint on Erling Haaland position change amid quadruple hunt | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has provided insight into a potential experiment on Erling Haaland’s positioning in the rest of the season.

Haaland has recently rediscovered his goalscoring form after a drab start to January that saw the 25-year-old regularly miss clear-cut chances as Manchester City lost ground to Arsenal in the title race.

The Norway international has turned a corner of late, as have Manchester City, since he netted an injury-time penalty to complete a thrilling 2-1 comeback win for the Blues against Liverpool at Anfield earlier this month.

City have won four games on the spin and avoided defeat in their last seven games in all competitions as they continue to pile the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal, who are undergoing a poor run of form amid growing doubt over their silverware prospects.

After qualifying for the FA Cup fifth round with a 2-0 win over Salford City last week, Manchester City revert their focus to the Premier League on Saturday evening as they take on Newcastle and Eddie Howe for the fourth time in all competitions this term.

Having been excluded from City’s FA Cup matchday squad last week, Haaland is fit and available to start against Newcastle United as the Blues look to build on their recent momentum and remain on Arsenal’s heels.

Manchester City have spread the goals around since January, with mid-season signing Antoine Semenyo heavily involved and Omar Marmoush making an eye-catching impact since his return from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Speaking in a press conference on Friday, Guardiola was asked whether Manchester City can get much more out of Haaland by repositioning their number nine in the remainder of the season.

“No, the role is being close to the goal and score goals,” Guardiola said. “This is the role. Are you moving right, left, shape to be a little more open or more close? This depends on him, but I’m not telling Erling to play left-back, that’s for sure.”

City could welcome Savinho back to the pitch against Newcastle United after Guardiola deemed that the Brazilian winger is available to feature this weekend, though Jeremy Doku remains unavailable.

On whether Haaland can play more from the right of centre with a partner, Guardiola added: “We’ll see when the wingers are back. Still we have just one winger, one-and-a-half or one-and-three-quarters because Savio (Savinho) is back.

“And maybe Erling will be playing more central positions but of course, Savio is ready to play tomorrow from the beginning – we’ll decide the way we’re going to play in some details, but I think he adapts perfectly.”

Manchester City will be smelling blood in the title race when viewing Arsenal’s sluggish form of late and with the Gunners facing a must-win clash in the north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend, the upcoming round of games will be full of drama.