Erling Haaland has been left out of Manchester City's squad to take on Leicester City.
The Norwegian, who has scored 17 goals in 11 Premier League matches this season, picked up an injury in City's goalless draw against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday evening and will now sit out their trip to the King Power Stadium. Pep Guardiola decided to take off Haaland at half-time in Dortmund and revealed that he had a foot injury and minor fever.
Asked if he was missing for the same reasons he was withdrawn against Dortmund, Guardiola told BT Sport ahead of the game: “Yeah, [He] recovered from the fever, from being tired but not from the knock.”
Meanwhile, Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers was overjoyed by the news, declaring: "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sliding on my knees when I heard he wasn't playing!"
There were doubts whether Haaland would make Saturday's game and Guardiola provided a further update on Friday afternoon, claiming they would assess the free-scoring forward after training. He said: "He feels better but we will train this afternoon and we will assess in a few hours. We will see how he feels in his foot and after we will decide. I will know in two hours if he's able to play or not."
But Haaland was not included in the squad for the game, with Guardiola choosing to go with Julian Alvarez up front with Jack Grealish recalled to the starting XI and Bernardo Silva joining them in the front-three.
Discussing replacement Alvarez, Guardiola added: “Every player is different, he has to be himself and that’s it.”
Phil Foden, who was also a doubt for the fixture, was named on the bench alongside former Leicester star Riyad Mahrez. Kevin de Bruyne, Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan made up the midfield three for Guardiola's men.
Haaland scored more goals in the Premier League than any other player this season, scoring 17 times with Harry Kane (10) and Aleksandar Mitrovic (9) the next highest marksmen.
Haaland has also struck four times in the Champions League for City this campaign, netting against his former club Dortmund in the reverse fixture back in September. But Haaland will now miss his first game since his big-money move in the summer.
Meanwhile, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips are City's only other absentees at the moment and admitted that the latter is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a dislocated shoulder.
Guardiola said on Friday: "They are not ready for Leicester but I think they are getting better, Kalvin especially. What he says to me when I see him in the canteen or the locker room is that he feels really well.
"His mobility in the shoulder is perfect and he has started to train, contact with the ball. He has to avoid contact with team-mates, but he feels really well. We are surprised by how quick his development has been."
