Erling Haaland remains unavailable due to a foot injury (PA)
Erling Haaland has been ruled out of Manchester City’s Premier League clash against Newcastle United on Saturday.
The Norway international has missed City’s last eight matches due to a foot injury but returned to training before the 5-0 win over Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup last Sunday.
However, speaking during his press conference on Friday afternoon, Guardiola was adamant that Haaland would not return for City’s trip to St James’ Park this weekend.
‘Jack [Grealish] has been sick and hopefully today he is back,’ Guardiola said.
‘Erling is out and John [Stones] is out. I think that’s everything.’
Kevin de Bruyne returned from a hamstring injury last weekend (AFP via Getty)
Meanwhile, Guardiola insists he has no hesitation in starting Kevin de Bruyne against Newcastle after the midfielder made his return from a hamstring injury against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup.
When asked if De Bruyne is ready to start against Newcastle, Guardiola replied: ‘Yes.’
And asked if he had reservations about starting De Bruyne, Guardiola said: ‘I feel really, from what I saw yesterday, I feel really good, dynamic, the minutes he played was really, really good, better than the training sessions before the Huddersfield game, like he was a little bit not what he is, but it’s normal when you come from a long injury.
‘I thought it was three months but it was five, he was a little bit up and down in the training sessions in the recovery and so on, this is completely normal.
‘But what’s important is he’s getting better now, we have a game, after we have a few days off, he will train a little bit then after we go all together with good weather conditions to have four or five training sessions in Abu Dhabi and that will help him be better for the next games, the next months.’
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