Man City suffer Erling Haaland blow but get double fitness boost for Brighton

Erling Haaland will not be available for Manchester City to take on Brighton in the Premier League.

Haaland was taken off after 90 minutes of City's quarter-final with Real Madrid last Wednesday with a muscular issue and did not travel to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. The Norwegian did not train with the rest of the squad when they returned to Manchester on Tuesday and Pep Guardiola confirmed in his press conference ahead of the game that he will not be available.

"Erling is not ready for tomorrow," the manager said. "It's not a big issue but he's not allowed for this game."

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Guardiola will be able to call on both John Stones and Phil Foden for the game despite recent concerns. Stones was not fit enough to start against Real Madrid and was then substituted at half-time in the semi-final with Chelsea, prompting more worries in what has been a season heavily disrupted by injuries.

Foden, meanwhile, was one of the players who played at Wembley despite not being physically ready to, and the 23-year-old was not involved in training on Tuesday. However, he has recovered enough to be able to be part of the squad against Brighton on Thursday where Guardiola is expecting one of the toughest games of the season.

"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," he said.

"They have a lot of injuries and play three competitions but the way they play is always there. [Roberto de Zerbi] is doing an incredible job at Brighton."