Manchester City are preparing for their next Premier League game against Brighton – and two players were absent from training this morning.
City are seeking to keep pace with Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League, with both of those teams winning at the weekend while City were in FA Cup action against Chelsea.
Arsenal recorded a 2-0 win over Wolves at Molineux, while Liverpool defeated Fulham 3-1 at Craven Cottage.
Pep Guardiola‘s side responded really well against Chelsea after going out of the Champions League against Real Madrid.
A tricky game is coming up now against Brighton, who are obviously a great side under Roberto De Zerbi, and some slightly concerning news has emerged ahead of the clash…
Phil Foden and Erling Haaland absent from Manchester City training ahead of Brighton clash
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On Saturday against Chelsea, Erling Haaland was nowhere to be seen for City.
The Norwegian had picked up a knock and when asked about his condition, Pep said (via Mirror): “He’s injured. I don’t think it’s much but he’s not able for today. I don’t know [if he will be back for the next game].
Concerningly, Haaland has not been pictured in City training today according to Sky Sports News.
And neither has Phil Foden, who started and played a full game against Chelsea. Julian Alvarez, who pretty much played a full game on Saturday, was initially not seen at training, but Sky reporter Anton Toloui has reported the Argentine joined the session after they had finished filming the squad.
One player who did train though is John Stones, which is good news after he went off at half-time against Chelsea to be replaced by Ruben Dias. Seemingly, the £50 million star will be just fine to play against Brighton.
Pep Guardiola is due to speak to the media today and should be able to provide updates on Haaland, Foden and Alvarez.
Concerning times
Just because these three players have not trained, it obviously doesn’t mean they will be unavailable for Brighton.
It could just be the club being cautious, so as not to overload them.
Foden and Alvarez have both played a lot of football this season, and it would be a major blow to lose one of them at this stage of the season. Between them, they have registered a whopping 61 goal contributions so far this season.
Thankfully, it seems like Alvarez is OK, but fans will be worried about Foden, who has of course been so influential this term.
Haaland – who was recently described as ‘extremely dangerous’ by Marco van Basten – has had a few niggles this season but hopefully, he can shake his latest one off in time for Thursday’s game with Brighton.
