Pep Guardiola issues Erling Haaland fitness update after back injury sustained against Arsenal | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Erling Haaland has provided an update on Erling Haaland’s availability for the Carabao Cup third-round trip to Huddersfield Town this week.

After failing to see out a third win in seven days courtesy of Gabriel Martinelli’s injury-time leveller for Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, City face a trip to the Accu Stadium before returning to Premier League duties against Burnley at the weekend.

Haaland opened the scoring for the Blues in north London at the weekend after being teed in by summer signing Tijjani Reijnders, with the 25-year-old Norway international notching his seventh goal in six games for Manchester City this season.

However, the striker was taken off for Nico Gonzalez after 76 minutes against Arsenal, with Manchester City parking the bus at the Emirates Stadium in a bid to defend their slim advantage against Mikel Arteta’s men.

It emerged later that Haaland has complained of pain in his back after the draw against Arsenal, with Guardiola providing an update on his talisman’s availability to face Huddersfield Town this week in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

“Recovery yesterday, didn’t train. Training today, I didn’t see him (Haaland) and the rest of the players yet. But hopefully he can be (ready) for next weekend (against Burnley),” Guardiola said.

Regardless of his availability for the Carabao Cup opening round, Haaland is highly unlikely to be included in the travelling squad after starting in each of Manchester City’s games against Manchester United, Napoli and Arsenal in the last week-and-a-half.

City have recovered from their pre-international break slump with seven points out of nine in a demanding run of fixtures in the last week, with the Blues nearly seeing off Arsenal as well on Sunday only for Martinelli to grasp a last-gasp leveller for the Gunners.

Manchester City have moved up to ninth place in the Premier League after five games, with early losses to Tottenham and Brighton placing the Blues eight points behind league leaders and title holders Liverpool, who have won each of their five opening league games.

Having undergone a major revamp in the summer transfer window, many Manchester City newcomers are adjusting to life at the Etihad Stadium as the Blues bid for a fifth league title win in six seasons after a disappointing 2024-25 campaign.

After a slow start to the season with back-to-back defeats against Tottenham and Brighton, City have turned a corner after the international break and Guardiola is set to rotate heavily when the Blues visit Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup third-round on Wednesday.

Guardiola fielded an unchanged starting XI against Manchester United, Napoli and Arsenal and many of those 11 players are expected to be left at home to rest and recover to be available in time for Burnley’s visit to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.