Ahead of Manchester City's game against Premier League promoted Luton Town, manager Pep Guardiola announced very bad news to the outside world, as striker Erling Haaland suffered an injury and will not only be unable to play in this game against Luton, but may also miss more games. This is undoubtedly a fatal blow to the Blue Moon Legion, which is already in a worrying situation.
According to Pep Guardiola, Haaland's injury is not optimistic and is a stress fracture. Fans familiar with sports medicine know that this injury is more troublesome, and the time it takes to recover varies from person to person, some players need to rest for 4-8 weeks, some need 12-16 weeks, once Haaland is diagnosed with a stress fracture, Manchester City may have to be mentally prepared for a period of time without an ace centre-forward.
This is undoubtedly a fatal blow to Manchester City, which is currently in domestic and foreign difficulties. As we all know, Manchester City's form has suddenly fallen into a trough recently, and its results have been declining. After a 1-0 upset defeat to Aston Villa in the last round, Manchester City has not tasted defeat in four consecutive Premier League rounds, which is very rare after Guardiola took charge of the Blue Moon Army. Due to the poor record, Manchester City has also slipped all the way from the top of the Premier League to the fourth place in the Premier League, and if it continues like this, I am afraid that the top four positions in the Premier League will be lost.
At such a juncture, Haaland suffered an injury at an inopportune time. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to Manchester City. As we all know, Haaland is really indispensable to Manchester City's attacking frontcourt, and he bears almost half of Manchester City's attacking firepower. The data shows that Manchester United has scored a total of 36 goals after the first English overtake;Haaland, on the other hand, contributed 14 goals and four assists for Manchester City alone. He has single-handedly scored 18 Premier League goals for Manchester City, exactly half of which they have scored so far this season.
Therefore, Haaland is the most important guarantee for Manchester City's frontcourt, equivalent to Bayern's Harry Kane, Barcelona's Lewandowski, and Paris's Haaland. The sudden injury of such an important player is a bit of a draw for Manchester City. Once Haaland is really injured for about 4-8 weeks, then Manchester City may have to withdraw from the Premier League title race early this season. Given Haaland's importance to Manchester City, this is not alarmist. So, the time has come to really test Guardiola.