Pep Guardiola press conference: Erling Haaland and John Stones fitness updates for FA Cup fourth round tie | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has provided an injury update on his squad ahead of Saturday afternoon’s FA Cup fourth round meeting with Salford City.

The Blues have cut Arsenal’s down at the top of the Premier League from six points to four in the last week after coming from behind to win at Anfield and securing a first league double over Liverpool since 1937.

Guardiola’s side also ran out 3-0 winners over Fulham in midweek courtesy of first-half strikes from Antoine Semenyo, Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland – with Arsenal slipping up in a 1-1 draw with Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Thursday night.

City have turned the ship around of late against the backdrop of a poor start to 2026 that saw them throw away leads against Chelsea, Brighton and Tottenham in what was a slugging start to the calendar year that raised questions over their title race prospects.

However, the eight-time Premier League champions have seemingly turned a corner and as they vie for success on four fronts in the run-in, Guardiola will want to keep his players fresh, fit and firing by means of rotation.

Erling Haaland came off at half-time against Fulham on Wednesday as Guardiola later revealed the Norwegian forward has complained of ‘niggles’, prompting a swap with Omar Marmoush.

In a press conference on Friday afternoon, Guardiola issued an update on Manchester City’s number nine. “He’s not 100% but we’ll see today how he feels,” the Catalan said.

“It’s not a big issue, the doctor said to me, but he had some disturbances during the game (against Fulham) and that’s why in the second-half, he didn’t play. We’ll see how is his evolution.”

Guardiola was further probed on whether Haaland will be involved against Salford City. “We will decide today,” the 55-year-old added.

Savinho and Jeremy Doku remained absent against Fulham but John Stones was named on the bench, with Ruben Dias making his first start since recovering from an injury he sustained against Chelsea in January.

“We will see tomorrow if he plays or how many minutes he plays,” Guardiola said on Stones.

Guardiola is expected to rotate his ranks for the cup tie, with City having put Exeter City to the sword in a 10-1 rout in a third round win. James Trafford will start in goal, with Max Alleyne also expected to return to the lineup.