Pep Guardiola reveals Erling Haaland return date as Manchester City enter Premier League final lap without Norwegian striker | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has outlined the length of time Manchester City forward Erling Haaland will spend on the sidelines after suffering an ankle injury against Bournemouth on Sunday.

Haaland was taken off after his leveller having landed awkwardly, being replaced by Omar Marmoush who went on to score the winner and send City to a seventh consecutive FA Cup final courtesy of a 2-1 win against the Cherries.

Manchester City released a statement on Haaland’s injury on Monday, with the 24-year-old set to meet with specialists to realise the full extent of his issue and expected to spend majority of the campaign run-in.

Speaking in a press conference ahead of a visit from Leicester City on Wednesday evening, Guardiola provided an update on how long Haaland is expected to be out of action.

“Sometimes there are years that these kind of things happen, and it’s happened all season. So I would say it could not be different until the end of the season,” Guardiola said on Haaland on Tuesday afternoon.

“The doctors told me between five and seven weeks, so hopefully at the end of the season and (FIFA Club) World Cup, he (Haaland) will be ready.”

It remains to be seen how Manchester City cope with the devastating loss of Haaland as they embark upon the business end of the season, eyeing a league top four finish and a successful FA Cup run.

Omar Marmoush received huge plaudits for his performance off the bench at the Vitality Stadium in the FA Cup quarter-final over the weekend, with the £59 million January signing from Eintracht Frankfurt a possible option to fill in for Haaland.

“We will find a solution with the players that we have and different other skills and qualities, but we will have another one. We don’t have another player with Erling Haaland’s skills or his specific qualities – we know that,” Guardiola added.

“But we have to adapt, and since many years we’ve played different ways up front, and it depends on the quality of the players. We are going to try to find a solution.”