Pep Guardiola assesses Erling Haaland injury and identifies area for improvement in Man City striker

Pep Guardiola has revealed he will assess the fitness of Erling Haaland after the Manchester City striker suffered an injury in Sunday’s win against Aston Villa.

The former Borussia Dortmund star put in an impressive display in the opening 45 minutes and showed his unselfish side to set up Ilkay Gundogan to score his side’s second goal of three during a dominant first-half performance.

However, Haaland would be replaced during half-time after he collided with Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and failed to reappear for the second-half after Julian Alvarez was brought on in his place.

That led to concerns the 31-goal striker could miss Wednesday night’s crucial top of the table home clash with leaders Arsenal. Guardiola confirmed Haaland suffered an injury during the win against Villa but is yet to discover the extent of the blow.

He told Sky Sports: “I don’t know. He had a big knock and he wasn’t comfortable. I didn’t want to take a risk, we will assess in the next days.

“If he is not ready we will play another one. Hopefully, he is ready like everyone, but we will see in the next days.”

There has been a lot of discussion about Haaland’s suitability to lead the line for Guardiola’s side - despite plundering his way to 31 goals in all competitions during the season and adding a further four assists.

The City boss admitted there were some improvements to be made to allow him to release the striker’s full potential but insisted that would happen in the near future.

“His presence was really good. To just take a look at it a little bit more, when we are not pressured to the ball, when the opposition has a high line, we have to be able to find him a little bit more.

“It’s just a question of process, we will do it in the future.”