Why Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva are absent from Manchester City squad against Salford City | OneFootball

Manchester City duo Erling Haaland and Bernardo Silva are missing from the matchday squad for Saturday afternoon’s FA Cup fourth round tie with Salford City.

Haaland went off at half-time in City’s 3-0 Premier League win over Fulham in midweek after scoring his 22nd goal of the league campaign to give Pep Guardiola’s side a three goal cushion ahead of the interval.

Guardiola revealed after the win that the forward had complained of ‘niggles’ and in a press conference on Friday afternoon, the Manchester City manager raised doubt over the Norway international’s chances of featuring against Salford City as he looks to rotate to keep his players fit and firing for the run-in.

City swept the floor with Exeter City in the FA Cup third round in January, with Antoine Semenyo scoring on his debut in a 10-1 triumph for the Blues just over 24 hours from joining from Bournemouth for £64 million.

Having gone six games unbeaten in all competitions, Guardiola and co will be looking to build on their recent purple patch as they vie for silverware on four fronts in the business end of the campaign.

Ahead of Saturday’s 15:00 UK kick-off between Manchester City and Salford City, Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News has reported that Haaland is missing from the hosts’ matchday squad for the FA Cup fourth round clash.

Guardiola will be wanting Haaland to take his time to recuperate from the issue he sustained against Fulham on Wednesday, with Manchester City returning to Premier League duties next weekend against Newcastle United after a rare midweek off.

Lineups will be coming in from the Etihad Stadium at 14:00 UK on Wednesday as Guardiola shuffles his pack to ensure swift qualification to the FA Cup fifth round, having admitted that he will not make too many changes as he wants to keep his preferred starting XI more or less on their toes.

Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News also raised doubt over Bernardo Silva’s availability against Salford City ahead of kick-off, with the Manchester City skipper also not spotted among the wider player group by the journalist. Upon confirmation of lineups, it can be confirmed that Silva has also entirely missed out.

Max Alleyne and James Trafford are among those who have come in for Manchester City against the League Two visitors, who were handed an 8-0 demolition in the third round of the competition in the previous campaign.

Haaland has recently rediscovered his goalscoring form after a sluggish start to 2026, scoring an injury-time penalty to complete a comeback win over Liverpool at Anfield last week before finishing expertly past Bernd Leno at the Etihad Stadium in midweek.

Manchester City’s official channels have confirmed that Haaland and Silva are ‘not fully fit’ to face Salford City, with Guardiola is expected to hand an update on the pair after the game.