Guardiola not expecting injured Haaland back against Palace

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland will likely miss his second consecutive Premier League game with a foot injury on Saturday, said manager Pep Guardiola, who hopes his striker can travel with the team to the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia.

“No, it’s no fracture, it is just stress, and sometimes those players recover quicker, sometimes longer, so the doctor said we have to take it day-by-day, week-by-week, how he feels at the moment, (when he doesn’t) have symptoms or doesn’t feel pain he will be ready to play again,” the manager added.

“He will see the doctors, they will see him and we’ll see how he feels,” Guardiola added.

“Hopefully he can travel to Saudi (Saturday) after the game, I think he is going to travel with us and after we’ll see if he is able to play the first game or the second or when we come back (to Manchester).”

“How they defend is brilliant … it will be a tough, tough game,” he said. “Ever since I’ve been here, I don’t remember easy games against Roy Hodgson teams.”

“(It is phenomenal) to have the fire and the passion inside to still be in there.”

“Excellent idea, more than welcome,” the manager said. “Hopefully in the future there can be more.”