Boss Guardiola revealed Haaland's return date and worried Manchester City fans

Manchester City are preparing to face the most demanding stage of the 2023/24 season. They had a perfect performance in the Champions League group stage, with six wins in six games, which allowed them to qualify to the round of 16 and face Copenhagen from Denmark. In addition, in the FA Cup they advanced smoothly to the round of 32 after beating Huddersfield 5-0.

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However, in the Premier League they have struggled. For a few weeks they were leaders of the standings, but then they had a bad run of several games and lost their place to Liverpool. Now they are 5 points behind The Reds and that is why they need to improve in order to compete with them during the second half of the season.

One of the reasons for the drop in the team's performances was the absence of Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker is the top scorer of the team (and the tournament, along with Mohamed Salah, both with 14 goals), but on December 6 he suffered a foot injury during the match vs Aston Villa that has kept him out since then.

Julian Alvarez's goals have not been enough to replace Erling and so fans are anxiously waiting for him to recover and return. But the news is not good. This week Pep Guardiola gave a press conference in which he was asked about this issue and his answer worried fans: "He's had a little bit of disturbance problems in his feet. It's a bone, it needs time. With every injury you can do whatever but it's a question of time. Hopefully at the end of this month he'll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected."

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The Citizens will miss him this weekend

Erling Haaland will miss Saturday's game. Manchester City will visit St. James' Park to face Newcastle, one of the Premier League's toughest teams, looking for a win that will allow them to close the gap on Liverpool in the standings. The Reds will not compete in the league this weekend, as their game vs Bournemouth was scheduled for January 21.