Manchester City's latest injury news ahead of midweek.placeholder image
Manchester City's latest injury news ahead of midweek. | Getty Images
Manchester City will be sweating on the fitness of multiple first-team stars ahead of their midweek fixture.
Manchester City are keeping the pace on Premier League leaders Arsenal and will look to narrow the gap on the Gunners further when both sides return to the pitch in midweek.
Both clubs are in action on Wednesday night, as Arsenal travel to Brighton while City host struggling Nottingham Forest at the Etihad. On the back of nine straight victories in all competitions, Pep Guardiola’s side are beginning to come into fine form as they so often do around this time of year. Four successive league wins within that run have meant that the gap at the top of the league is now just five points, with the Cityzens holding a game in hand over Arsenal ahead of both sides meeting in Manchester in April.
City will await fitness updates surrounding multiple key first-team stars ahead of Wednesday night’s visit of Vitor Pereira’s Forest, who have lost both of their first two matches under the Portuguese and will be looking to create some increased distance above the bottom three.
Will Erling Haaland be fit to face Nottingham Forest?
Guardiola will be sweating over the fitness of Erling Haaland after the Norwegian hitman was left out of the 1-0 victory at Leeds United last time out with injury. The 25-year-old picked up a knock in training after playing the full 90 minutes in the 2-1 victory over Newcastle United and was absent at Elland Road.
City manager Guardiola issued an update ahead of kick-off: “Two days ago, in the last moments of training, there were some problems,” he said. “A little injury. It’s not a big issue, but not ready for today.”
Haaland will aim to be back in action on Wednesday night as he looks to add to his 22 Premier League goals so far this season. Omar Marmoush started in the place of the Norway international at Leeds but has only scored one league goal in 16 appearances this term, and Haaland’s return would be a massive boost to title-chasing City. An update on his availability may be released in the build-up to the match.
Nico O’Reilly fitness update amid five-player City injury list
Versatile England international Nico O’Reilly hobbled off with an injury at Elland Road after becoming a permanent fixture in the City line-up so far this campaign. The 20-year-old star made a name for himself at left-back but has begun to be deployed further forward in midfield for City in recent weeks and has scored three goals in his last three league games.
O’Reilly limped off against Leeds and his injury issue has not been disclosed, with Tijjani Reijnders coming on to replace the City academy product. O’Reilly will aim to be back to fitness in time to face Forest, with an update from Guardiola likely to be revealed in the build-up to the game.
One player who will remain out for the long-term is defender Josko Gvardiol, who suffered a broken leg in the draw with Chelsea in early January after a nasty collision and is unlikely to feature again this term. His absence has been remedied with the January acquisition of Marc Guehi for £20m.
Meanwhile, Gvardiol’s Croatia international team-mate Mateo Kovacic underwent Achilles surgery earlier in the season and has only made two cameo appearances this term. The 31-year-old has suffered multiple set-backs in his recovery but will aim to return to action later this spring.
Max Alleyne was recalled from a blossoming loan spell at Watford in the Championship to ease the injury concerns felt at the back at the beginning of 2026, but picked up his own injury issue in the FA Cup against Salford and missed out on the last two matches. The 20-year-old defender will hope to return to the matchday squad against Forest.
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