Three ways Man City could line-up without Erling Haaland after injury blow

Over the past year and a half, Manchester City have risen to the top of European football and their dominance has been underlined by Erling Haaland.

Last season's record-breaking debut campaign sent the Blues into the stratosphere and helped them secure an historic Treble. However, over at least the next couple of games City will need to cope without their talisman.

After initial fears about a fracture, Pep Guardiola confirmed Haaland is suffering from a stress injury in his foot. The Catalan head coach is hopeful the Norwegian will be back in time for the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia but the games against Crvena Zvezda and Crystal Palace will likely be too soon.

READ MORE: Haaland injury timescale

READ MORE: Guardiola provides injury updates

With this in mind, MEN Sport has taken a look at a couple of ways City could line-up without Haaland in their ranks.

The most likely Plan B without Haaland was showcased on Sunday afternoon in Luton. World Cup winner Julian Alvarez has been employed deeper since the injury to Kevin De Bruyne, a move which has enjoyed mixed success.

At Kenilworth Road, Alvarez was deployed in the centre forward role which he seemed more comfortable with. The hard-working 23-year-old may not have got on the scoresheet but his endeavour managed to earn him an assist for Jack Grealish's winner. With Haaland out of the picture, Alvarez is likely to be entrusted with the central duties.

Alvarez is the obvious and only out and out centre forward option but it's behind him where there could be changes. City looked more resilient and controlling at Luton with Rodri back in the fold and Mateo Kovacic alongside him.

But that saw Bernardo Silva out wide when he is arguably more influential from a central