Man City to resume Premier League title quest at Brighton without injured Erling Haaland

Manchester City will be without top-scorer Erling Haaland when they resume their quest to retain the Premier League title against Brighton on Thursday.

Pep Guradiola's side go into the match third in the table, four points behind leaders Arsenal but with two games in hand on the North London club, who hammered Chelsea 4-0 on Tuesday. Second-place Liverpool could move level with Arsenal if they defeat Everton in Wednesday's Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.

City have not played in the league since thrashing Luton Town 5-0 on April 13, having been preoccupied with cup competitions in their last two games. On Saturday, they battled to a 1-0 victory over Chelsea to reach the FA Cup final for a second successive season, where they will take on local rivals Manchester United at Wembley Stadium once again.

Three days earlier, City's reign as European champions was brought to an end when they were beaten in a penalty shoot-out by Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium, a defeat which also killed off their hopes of sealing a historic double-treble.

Haaland came off at the end of 90 minutes in the Champions League due to a muscular issue, with Guardiola saying after the match that both the Norwegian and key playmaker Kevin De Bruyne asked to come off before the shoot-out due to fitness issues.

The Norwegian – who has 31 goals across competitions this season – was then absent for the win over Chelsea and Guardiola revealed on Wednesday that he will also miss the Brighton game.

But there was better news with defender John Stones and 22-goal attacker Phil Foden, who were also injury doubts. Stones was not fit enough to start against Madrid and was taken off at half-time at Wembley, while Foden was not involved in training on Tuesday but