Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been withdrawn from Norway's squad for their upcoming international fixtures against Spain and Georgia. The 22-year-old striker has suffered a groin injury and could be sidelined for a number of weeks depending on the severity of the issue.
This comes as a huge boost for Arsenal's Premier League title chances now City could be without their star striker heading into a crucial run of fixtures at the end of the season. Groin strains are graded with numbers 1 to 3, depending on how serious the injury is, and could take between three to six weeks to heal.
Arsenal and City are still awaiting to hear the full diagnosis of Haaland's injury with an assessment likely to take place in the next 48 hours. The Norwegian's injury could be hugely significant in the title race despite City having a number of capable alternatives to start in attack if Haaland is out for a long period of time.
READ MORE: Arsenal handed huge Premier League title race boost as Erling Haaland suffers major injury blow
Guardiola's side still have the FA Cup and Champions League to contend with, along with their fierce title race with Arsenal. The Gunners only have the Premier League to focus on with just 10 games left to play.
The reigning champions have a game in hand on Arsenal and could cut the gap to the leaders back down to just five points heading into April. football.london takes a look at the games Haaland could miss if he has suffered a grade 3 groin injury.
Liverpool (H) - Premier League - Saturday, April 1
Southampton (A) - Premier League - Saturday, April 8
Bayern Munich (H) - Champions League - Tuesday, April 11 (Grade 1 injury return date - three weeks)
Leicester City (H) - Premier League - Saturday, April 15
Bayern Munich (A) - Champions League - Wednesday, April 19
Sheffield United (H) - FA Cup - Saturday, April 22
Arsenal (H) - Premier League - Wednesday, April 26
Fulham (A) - Premier League - Sunday, April 30
Haaland took the news of his injury 'hard' as he now returns home from the national team ahead of City's clash against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, April 1. Norway manager Stale Solbakken said: "Erling [Haaland] took it hard when he realized that he could not fight for the team.
"Fortunately, there is still plenty of self-confidence, talent and cohesion in this group to win points in the next matches. We are not going to hang on one millimetre, but continue our work to be maximally prepared for Saturday and Tuesday."
Depending when City's game against Brighton in the Premier League is rescheduled for due to their FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United, Haaland could miss the game against the Seagulls too. If the Norwegian has suffered a grade 3 groin injury, he could miss up to six weeks of action - seeing him return on Tuesday, May 2 - but this will only be known when an assessment and diagnosis have been completed.
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