Pep Guardiola gives Man City injury update on Erling Haaland, John Stones & Phil Foden

Pep Guardiola has confirmed Erling Haaland will not be available for Manchester City’s trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday.

The Premier League champions travel to the Seagulls now four points behind league-leaders Arsenal, who have won twice since City were last in league action.

It means picking up three points on the south coast feels vital in the race for the top spot, but City’s hopes suffered a blow with the news that Haaland won’t be available at the Amex.

The striker limped out of last week’s Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid, subsequently missed Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final win over Chelsea. and wasn’t involved in training on Tuesday. Nor were Phil Foden and John Stones, but Guardiola explained the latter pair will be available for Thursday’s league game, unlike Haaland.

“Erling is not ready for tomorrow and the other two are ready,” he told reporters in Wednesday’s press conference. “I’m not concerned [about Haaland]. It's not a big issue but he's not allowed for this game.

Asked about the possibility of rotating his squad, the City boss replied: “I don't know what rotate means. Players deserve to play and every person has their starting XI but everyone has their contribution.

“Now we had three or four days, the last game against Chelsea and tomorrow is one of the toughest games of the season. Brighton away in my calendar is one of the toughest ones for the way we play.”

While in-form City haven’t lost since early December, Brighton’s recent record is less impressive. The Seagulls have won just one of their last 10 games in all competitions and have little to play for in the final weeks of the season.

Despite that, Guardiola is expecting a difficult challenge from Roberto De Zerbi, a manager he has previously spoken about in glowing terms.

“Admiration is growing every season. They had a lot of problems, important players were sold like [Levi] Colwill, [Moises] Caicedo, [Alexis] Mac Allister. They were really important players. They have a lot of injuries and play three competitions, but the way they play is always there. He is doing an incredible job at Brighton.