Leeds United welcome Manchester City to Elland Road this afternoon.
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland will miss this evening’s game against Leeds United in a major blow.
Rumours surfaced on social media throughout Saturday that Haaland was not with the City squad travelling to West Yorkshire. Norwegian journalist Jan Aage Fjortoft suggested the striker had suffered a small injury.
Haaland was not spotted getting off the City team bus and heading into Elland Road, with confirmation of his absence coming at 16.15pm. City confirmed their starting-XI with the fearsome frontman nowhere to be seen.
He was replaced in the starting line-up by Rayan Cherki, with Egyptian international Omar Marmoush expected to lead the line. He will be flanked by Cherki and £64million January signing Antoine Semenyo.
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Behind that still brilliant front three are Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Nico O’Reilly, the latter of whom scored twice in a 2-1 win over Newcastle United last time out. Semenyo’s fellow January arrival Marc Guehi starts in a back four alongside Ruben Dias, Matheus Nunes and Rayan Ait-Nouri with Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal.
Leeds have suffered no such late injury issues with Daniel Farke able to name an unchanged side from the team that drew 1-1 at Aston Villa last weekend. That means James Justin keeps his place in the back three alongside Joe Rodon and Pascal Struijk, with Jaka Bijol benched.
Villa Park standout performer Anton Stach remains the most attacking of a midfield three that also includes Ila Gruev and Ethan Ampadu, with Jayden Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson at wing-back. Brenden Aaronson is up top alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
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