Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says that Erling Haaland is slowly recovering from a groin injury that kept him out of Saturday’s game against Liverpool.

The Premier League champions face Southampton in their next fixture this weekend, and Guardiola is hoping to have his top goalscorer back in contention soon:

“Erling is getting better. On Friday he felt a little bit better compared to the previous two days. It’s five days to Southampton, so hopefully can still help us like he has all season. The players need to rest. I was on holiday in my hometown in Catalonia, but they were with their national teams.”

“After that, if you continue in the Champions League or FA Cup, you have a lot of games. So, stay away, then we have three days to prepare for Southampton, then Bayern Munich, Leicester, Sheffield United and Arsenal.”

From the sound of things, Haaland could well be fit enough to return to the bench for the Southampton clash but, considering how well Julian Alvarez played against Liverpool, there is really no need to rush him back, especially with so many other important fixtures coming up this month.

While getting the three points at St Mary’s is crucial for keeping up the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the table, they will be facing a team on Saturday that are currently rooted to the bottom of the league, so you’d back the Citizens to secure victory even without Haaland’s involvement.