Manchester City must prepare for a Premier League run-in without 30-goal striker Erling Haaland but Pep Guardiola has options.
Even if Erling Haaland returns for Manchester City before his seven week injury timeframe, most of the run-in will be complete.
Indeed, seven weeks takes City to a potential FA Cup final weekend, and they would only have one or two games left in the Premier League to secure a top four spot. Pep Guardiola and City hope for Haaland to be back for the FIFA Club World Cup, but have two huge objectives to wrap up before that.
So it will likely turn to Omar Marmoush to lead the line after his £63m January arrival. The Egyptian has five goals for City already and has 40 goals or assists this season between his time at Eintracht Frankfurt and the Blues. But Guardiola would not commit to revealing whether Marmoush would slot in as a replacement for Haaland, instead naming three other players who could fill in at number nine.
When Haaland missed City’s defeat to Liverpool earlier in the season, Marmoush was deployed on the wing, but Guardiola insists he can play on his own in the middle. “Yeah [he can play there],” the manager said. “Phil [Foden] can play there. Macca [James McAtee] can play there, Oscar Bobb can play there.
“[Marmoush] likes to play close to the box. He loves to score, have a sense of goal. Definitely. And he has it, yeah. I know the players who have the sense of goal more than the other ones. So everybody knows their players have a sense of goal more than the other players. And you have to try to bring them close to the box.
“We need players with other qualities and we have to bring more players with a sense of goal close to the box. That’s for sure. Because of course Erling’s numbers again have been exceptional and he is our incredible threat for many things, for the long balls, for the sense of goal. But we have to adjust for the other players.”
Meanwhile, Guardiola joked that his players will prefer his absence on the touchline as he serves a one-match ban for a third booking of the season.
“My assistants will communicate with the players,” he said. “I cannot. In the half-time I will do it, but not in the game. The view is better [in the stands] and I’m not annoying to my players. My players all the time complain to me how annoyed I am. So, that will be free, they can express their talent.”