Pep Guardiola expresses Erling Haaland concern ahead of Jack Grealish’s Manchester City return | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola entrusts Erling Haaland to maintain his fine run of goalscoring form but has expressed concerns over a lack of output from his wingers.

City picked up a vital win on the road on Sunday evening as a ninth-minute Haaland goal – the Norwegian’s 12th of the season in all competitions for the Blues – was the difference between the visitors and a well-drilled Bees side at the GTech Community Stadium.

After Eric Dier’s injury-time penalty frustrated Manchester City to a 2-2 draw in Monaco last week, Haaland ensured that his side went into the forthcoming international break on a winning note after scoring what he described after the win as one of the better goals he has scored in his career.

Josko Gvardiol’s looped ball over the Brentford backline found the 25-year-old, who shrugged off Bees centre-half Sepp van den Berg and smashed the ball past Caoimhin Kelleher to break the deadlock with his first chance of the game.

City were handed a major injury scare in the first-half as Ballon d’Or winning midfielder Rodri pulled his hamstring and replaced by Nico Gonzalez, with cameras pointing to the 29-year-old’s right leg being heavily strapped up in the second-half when he returned to the away technical area from the tunnel.

Rayan Cherki returned to the Manchester City matchday squad for the first-time since injuring his thigh in the days leading to a 2-1 defeat to Brighton at the end of August, with Mateo Kovacic also back in training after undergoing surgery on his Achilles in the summer.

Omar Marmoush, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Abdukodir Khusanov are also expected to be ready to play when Manchester City welcome Jack Grealish and Everton to the Etihad Stadium on October 18, with City possessing the chance to climb up to the top of the Premier League – albeit briefly – with three points over the Toffees.

Haaland has called upon his teammates to maintain their fitness and return to the other side of the international break unscathed as Manchester City look to build on their impressive run of results since September.

However, there are concerns behind the scenes at the Etihad Stadium over Manchester City’s evident over-reliance on Haaland to keep bailing them out of jail and dragging the Blues over the line – particularly since Julian Alvarez’s £82 million switch to Atletico Madrid.

Guardiola revealed his message to his in-form talisman after the win, as he said: “Keep going. He was tired but keep going. He has been so important for us. We need more goals from other ones but the chances were there.

“The wingers have to score more, the wingers have to score in those situations one against one, one against two, they had to finish more but step by step we will. It was much more solid with the team, we will be fine.”

There is no arguing with the fact that City’s current wingers don’t possess the attacking output as the likes of Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez – who were regular difference-makers in the final third during their respective spells at the Etihad Stadium.