The Spits of Manchester Erling Erling Haaland is expected to miss between five and seven weeks with an ankle injury, with Wednesday's game against Leicester City his first on the sidelines.
Haaland scored the Equalizer of the city early in the second half when they flew back to beat Bournemouth with 2-1 and to book their place in a seventh consecutive FA Cup Semi-final on Sunday.
But he was replaced in the 61st minute and later left the Vitality Stadium on crutches. His replacement, Omar Marmoush, scored the second goal of the city only two minutes later.
On Monday, City said that Haaland would see a specialist and moved to the fear that he could miss the club World Cup, which will start on June 14.
But boss Pep Guardiola confirmed on Tuesday that the Norwegian will be out until the beginning of May, which means that he will miss their FA Cup semi-final draw against Nottingham Forest and various Premier League matches.
“They told me that the doctors say between five and seven weeks,” Guardiola told reporters, watching the meeting of Wednesday with Leicester.
“So hopefully he will be ready at the end of the season and the club World Cup. Sometimes there are years that things happen. It happened all season.
“With all the injuries we have had this season, I am so sorry for them and also for Erling. So I wish him a good recovery, as soon as possible, come back.”
Pep (on the fitness of Erling Haaland) The doctors told me between five and seven weeks [out].
So hopefully he will be ready before the end of the season and the FIFA Club World Cup. pic.twitter.com/n8aculgkys
– Manchester City (@Mancity) April 1, 2025
Despite the fact that City fell out of the Premier League title this season, Haaland has continued its deadly form for the goal.
This season he has 30 goals in 40 games in all competitions, with only Robert Lewandowski (38), Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane (both 33) and Mohamed Salah (32) more among all players from Europe's top five competitions.
Since Haaland arrived at the Etihad Stadium in 2022, City has won 66% of their Premier League matches with the Norwegian in their starting line -up (62/94).
Interesting is that they have a better profit percentage without him and win eight out of 11 games for a ratio of 72.7%.
They also have just as many goals on average without Haaland started (2.3 per game) as with him.
Haaland missed almost two months due to injuries between December 2023 and January 2024, and City was unbeaten by 11 games in all games in that spell (10 wins, one draw), and also lifted the club World Cup trophy.
City will be confident to handle Leicester without him, who are nine points of safety after losing 13 of their last 14 Premier League matches (one win), including their last six in a row, all without scoring.
In the English history of top flight, only three games have ever lost seven times in succession without scoring-Sunderland (eight in January 1977), Town Ipswich (seven in April 1995) and Crystal Palace (eight in September 2017).
Boss Ruud van Nistelrooy has lost 13 of his 16 games (81.3%)-the highest loss percentage of the joint second of a manager to lead a club for 15 or more games in the competition.
Players to watch
Manchester City – Omar Marmoush
Guardiola said on Tuesday that Marmoush could play as a number nine in the absence of Haaland, and all four of his Premier League goals have come to the Etihad Stadium this season.
That is by each player the most joint player to score 100% of their goals at home in the competition this period, in addition to Marc Cucurella (also 4/4).
The only players who score each of their first five or more goals in the Premier League for City All at Home are Paulo Wanchope (first six), Raheem Sterling (nine) and Phil Foden (five).
Leicester City – Mads Hermansen
This season Leicester admitted the first goal in 24 of their 29 Premier League matches – at least five more than anyone else.
If they are left here with 1-0, this will be the most times that a team first admitted in their opening 30 games of a Premier League campaign (25), which surpassed the record of Ipswich from 1994-95 (24). Hermansen will have to be at best to prevent that.
Match Prediction – Manchester City Win
This season Leicester has the least shots (262) and expected goals (25.8 xg) on each side in the Premier League.
Conversely, only Liverpool (492) have tried more shots than city (466) in the competition this period.
City has won each of their last 13 Premier League matches in April – only Liverpool in December (15 between 2017 and 2020) and Manchester United in March (15 between 2005 and 2009) had longer winning runs in a specific month in the competition.
City has also won 21 of their last 22 Premier League matches against newly promoted opposition (one draw), including each of their last 12 in a row.
That is the joint-longest such winning run in their top-historical history (also 12 in a row from December 2009 to December 2011), and even without Haaland it should continue.
Opta wins probability
Manchester City – 75.4%
Leicester City – 10.5%
Drawing – 14.1%
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