Erling Haaland is seemingly fit and back and in contention following injury as Manchester City prepare to take on Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening.
City can close the gap to Premier League leaders Arsenal to two points with victory over Newcastle, before the Gunners travel to Tottenham in Sunday’s north London derby.
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Haaland picked up a knock in City’s win against Fulham last Wednesday and was left out of the squad for their victory over Salford City in the FA Cup three days later.
Haaland has scored 29 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions this season, and leads the race for the Premier League’s Golden Boot with 22, five clear of his nearest challenger, Brentford’s Igor Thiago.
His fitness, however, has been questioned in recent weeks, even before injury in the Fulham game, and his scoring streak has tailed off with only four goals in 13 appearances since the turn of the year.
But in a huge boost for City, Guardiola appeared to confirm that Haaland is back to 100 percent as he nodded when asked if the Norwegian was “fully fit”.
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The Catalan coach also offered a more mixed report on City’s wing options as he provided an update on the returns of Jeremy Doku and Savinho.
“Doku is not training and Savinho’s ready,” he said.
Newcastle come into the game with renewed confidence after three consecutive wins, beating Tottenham in the Premier League and Aston Villa in the FA Cup before the midweek thrashing of Azerbaijani champions Qarabag in the Champions League play-offs.
City, meanwhile, were buoyed by dropped points for Arsenal in midweek as they surrendered a two-goal lead to bottom club Wolves.
Erling Haaland’s return comes after Arsenal lost more ground in the title race (AFP via Getty Images)
The Cityzens have a Carabao Cup final encounter with the Gunners in March before welcoming them to the Etihad a month later, with the two sides set to joust it out for silverware during the season run-in.
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But Guardiola has reiterated that City are taking things game by game, saying: “12 games is a lot like I said before. Newcastle is my only concern. I’ll be concerned about the League Cup final with Arsenal when it comes then.
“I understand as a journalist you want to anticipate what is going to happen, who’s going to be champion – that doesn’t count. It’s Newcastle (that’s the only focus), that’s all.”
When asked if he felt his side had a better chance to win the title now than they did at Christmas, he replied: “To be honest, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen these next 12 games.
“I didn’t speak one second about that (the title race) with my players. Yesterday and the day before was just Newcastle, Newcastle and Newcastle. I didn’t talk about the table, I didn’t talk about the position. I could not care less. It’s 12 games left, it’s an eternity.”
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