The knee injury that prevented Erling Haaland from featuring in Manchester City’s loss to Liverpool yesterday could likely keep him out in midweek too.
It’s a very fast turnaround to Wednesday night, which sees City visiting Tottenham, so Haaland is a strong doubt, to say the least.
Man City at Tottenham Hotspur FYIs
Kick: Wed. Feb 26, 7:30pm, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK
Starting XI Predictions: Man City Tottenham
Google Result Probability: Man City 47% Draw 23% Tottenham 30%
PL Form: Man City WWLWL Tottenham LLWWW
PL Standing: Man City 4th, 44 pts Tottenham 12th 33 pts
Team News for Both Sides
Said manager Pep Guardiola yesterday, in regards to Haaland: “[The final decision was made] yesterday after training. He improved, but he did not feel good. I hope [he will be back on Wednesday], but we will see.”
Elsewhere is John Stones going to play again this season?
Maybe in May?
“He’s injured, difficult one; next hours or days, we will know whether he needs surgery or not,” Pep said on Friday. Also, whatever happened to Oscar Bobb?
Shifting gears to Spurs, only five confirmed injury absentees here, which is a major improvement over how the situation has been nearly all season.
Timo Werner (thigh) could return, if he doesn’t then that would be six.
Ange Postecoglu gave an update on two of the guys with thigh/hamstring injuries right now:
“We’ve got a week before the first Europa game. We’ve got the weekend off. And again, that’s about the time we’re hoping that guys like Romero and Micky, in particular.
“They should be in and around that sort of mark.”
He expanded more on Romero:
“He’s had [a follow-up scan] and it’s going well. He’s in a good place. So, like I said, with him and Micky, it’s just picking our moment now. We’ve got a really good period coming up where I think we can manage that where they’re back.
“They’ve had good weeks of training with us.”
Both could feature in the final game before the March international break.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.