Erling Haaland suffered an ankle injury during Manchester City’s thumping win over Bournemouth at the Etihad on Saturday.
Jeremy Doku stole the show as he registered a goal and four assists, while there was also a brace from Bernardo Silva and goals from Manuel Akanji, Phil Foden and Nathan Aké.
Man City fans will be sweating on the fitness of their star striker, though, after Haaland was taken off at halftime. The Norwegian was seen flexing his leg as the teams walked to the tunnel, but manager Pep Guardiola is hopeful that it isn’t a serious injury, revealing that he was taken off as a precaution.
“Twist in the ankle, we didn’t want to take risks with him, he didn’t feel comfortable,” he told BBC Match of the Day. “He’ll be back maybe Tuesday but maybe next Sunday.”
The Cherries were always second best to Man City, but Guardiola was in admiration of how Andoni Iraola’s side approached the game, even as they fell further behind.
“We didn’t expect the way they played with five at the back,” he said. “We scored in the right moments, second half they started better than us. Man to man they were aggressive, when a team is losing 3-0 and they go to man to man and go for it I have a lot of respect for that.”
Guardiola also said he was “really pleased” with how quickly Doku has settled into the squad, while he also hailed Silva as an “extraordinary player” and went as far as comparing him to Lionel Messi.
“The action from the second goal looks like Messi, Messi has done that many times. Everyone is so happy to have him here,” he said.
