Erling Haaland 'ready' for Manchester City's clash with Southampton

Norwegian striker to bolster Pep Guardiola's team in home stretch of campaign

Manchester City's Erling Haaland is set for a return. PA

Manchester City's prolific striker Erling Haaland is available to play on Saturday when City visit Southampton, manager Pep Guardiola revealed on Friday.

The Norwegian star returned to training this week after a groin injury forced him to miss City's 4-1 victory over Liverpool last weekend.

Guardiola confirmed Haaland will be in the squad for Saturday's game ahead of a visit from Bayern Munich for their Champions League first-leg quarterfinal on Tuesday.

"He trained the last two days, really good. He will be ready," the manager said.

Haaland's return will provide a boost to City as they approach the home stretch of the campaign, with three trophies still up for grabs.

City, who are second in the league and eight points behind leaders Arsenal but with a game in hand, have also reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League and semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Their coming run of fixtures will likely define their season, but Guardiola said his players are well accustomed to the pressure.

"The last part of the season, international break, it depends on us how many games we are going to play, Premier League for sure, Champions League, FA Cup," Guardiola said.

Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan, left, and Kevin De Bruyne both scored in a 4-1 win over Liverpool in their Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, April 1, 2023. AFP

Ilkay Gundogan scores Manchester City's third goal against Liverpool on Saturday. Getty

Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City celebrates after scoring his team's second goal. Getty

Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah scored against Manchester City. AFP

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne scores on Saturday. AFP

Manchester City's Julian Alvarez, left, celebrates with Jack Grealish after scoring. AFP

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, right, scores his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Liverpool at Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, April 1, 2023. (AP Photo / Jon Super)

"If we win, we're still in, if we don't we're out... If we drop points Arsenal will be champions in advance, if we win, win, win, we might be champions at the end of the season. We are used to it, it's not a problem."

Haaland, who has scored 42 goals in all competitions this season, had to withdraw from his country’s European Championship qualifiers against Spain and Georgia two weeks ago because of the injury.

Haaland leads the Premier League scoring charts with 28 goals and has hit nine in his last three games in all competitions.

City will face bottom club Southampton for a third time this season, with Ruben Selles set to become the third different manager of the south coast club to face Guardiola.

Selles believes rock-bottom Southampton have a "solid and robust game plan" as they look to stifle returning striker Haaland.

"The fact that Manchester City now has Haaland in front just makes their system a little bit better because of the creation of the chances," he said.

"With Ruben Dias in the build-up, Ederson's long distribution, Kevin De Bruyne in the half spaces, (Ilkay) Gundogan, Bernardo (Silva), Rodri as a central player, they make it possible.

"It's not about only Erling Haaland. It is about a team that knows how to use their players in the best way possible, so that's what we are focusing on. Let's see what we can do. I think we prepared a solid and robust game plan.

"I think the boys know what to do exactly and then with our way to approach things, and our style, we are going to try to put a big performance there and try to win the game, that's for sure."