Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is set to make his return from injury this weekend, according to manager Pep Guardiola.
The 24-year-old has been sidelined since March with an ankle injury sustained in City’s FA Cup match against Bournemouth. However, Haaland is now ready to return just in time to feature in the FA Cup final later this month.
Haaland was an unused substitute in City’s 1-0 Premier League win over Wolves last week, a result that helped boost their Champions League hopes.
Speaking ahead of City’s trip to Southampton on Saturday (15:00 BST), Guardiola confirmed Haaland’s availability: “He is ready, he is fit. As for whether he will start, we will decide tomorrow.”
City are currently third in the Premier League, three points ahead of sixth-placed Nottingham Forest, as they fight for a top-five finish to secure Champions League football next season.
After facing Southampton, Guardiola’s side will play Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final at Wembley on May 17, before completing their league campaign with matches against Bournemouth and Fulham.
Haaland Reflects on City’s Season
In a recent interview with ESPN, Haaland discussed City’s challenging season after their run of four consecutive Premier League titles. The striker admitted that a loss of “hunger” within the squad had been a factor in their struggles this term.
“You can find excuses — injuries, many injuries at bad times — but in the end, we haven’t been performing well enough,” Haaland said. “We haven’t had the hunger inside us. I haven’t been good enough. I haven’t helped the team enough. In the end, we haven’t been good enough.”
When asked about Haaland’s comments, Guardiola responded: “If that’s Erling’s feeling, the players should talk to each other and ask themselves why.”
Haaland has netted 21 goals in 28 Premier League appearances this season, making him the only City player to reach double figures in the competition. In total, he has scored 30 goals in 40 games across all competitions in the 2024-25 season, also contributing four assists.
Despite his individual success, Haaland is seven goals behind Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot with just three games remaining.
Guardiola Reflects on the “Most Difficult” Season
Pep Guardiola, who has led City to six Premier League titles since joining the club in 2016, acknowledged that this has been the “most difficult” season of his career. This is just the fourth time in his managerial history that he has failed to finish at the top of the league.
The manager has had to deal with a long injury list, contributing to City losing their four-year hold on the Premier League title and being eliminated from the Champions League at the play-off stage. Guardiola described this season as emotionally challenging, saying, “When you don’t win, it’s more demanding emotionally and in preparing the team, as well as managing the mood.
It has been more difficult than previous seasons when we were competing for titles.”
He continued, “The people pay for tickets to come to the stadium, and I have to prove myself again and again. I am disappointed in myself when things don’t go well.
When I retire, I want to look back and say, ‘OK, I was good or bad, I could have been better or worse.’ But right now, I have to focus on the next game and prove myself.”
City did win the Community Shield against Manchester United at the start of the season, but between October and December, they endured a tough run of just one victory in 13 games, including nine defeats.
However, despite the challenges, Guardiola believes there is still hope for a strong finish to the season. “It’s a business, we have to win games,” he said. “Otherwise, you can’t stay here. We represent the people, the club — we have to do our job as best as possible.
And this season, we haven’t done that. We haven’t been at the highest standards, but even then, I would say it could have been worse.”
He concluded, “We were still fighting. Not our best, but we didn’t give up.”
