Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed forward Erling Haaland could be out injured until the end of January, meaning he could miss three more matches.
The forward, who has netted 19 goals from 22 appearances this season, sustained a foot injury against Aston Villa on December 6th , and is likely to be unavailable until the end of January, Guardiola said.
City have three games remaining this month, facing Newcastle United on Saturday evening before taking on Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup and then hosting Burnley on the 31st. Their first clash in February sees them travel to London to face Brentford on the 5th .
Haaland was previously expected to be ready around Christmas, but Guardiola has put paid to any hope of a swift return.
"It's the bone. It needs time," the manager said. "With every injury you can do whatever you want but it's a question of time."
City travel to Abu Dhabi for warm weather training after the Magpies game – Haaland will join the team and continue his rehabilitation there.
"It's fine but the doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi," Guardiola said.
"Hopefully at the end of this month he'll be ready. It was a little bit more [serious] than we expected in the beginning."
City have sustained their usual dominant form in Haaland's absence, despite the forward being by far their top scorer this season. They have won seven of their last eight fixtures, including the Club World Cup final, drawing once against Crystal Palace. In that time they’ve netted an average three goals a game. It leaves them five points off first place with a game in hand.
However, Guardiola said: "We need him. Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem."
City's recent form starkly contrasts with their results before Haaland's injury: they had won just once from five games up to and including the Villa fixture.
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