Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is poised to use Omar Marmoush in a more central attacking role after it was revealed star striker Erling Haaland will be out for up to seven weeks due to an ankle injury.
City are currently fifth in the Premier League table and in danger of missing out on Uefa Champions League football next season, with games against Leicester City and Manchester United this week.
They will be without star striker Haaland, who suffered an ankle injury during City’s 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win at Bournemouth on Sunday.
The Norwegian had just scored his 30th goal of the season to equalise when he was hurt in a challenge with Cherries midfielder Lewis Cook.
Marmoush replaced the stricken Haaland in the 61st minute, and grabbed the winning goal with his first touch of the game when he pounced on a Nico O'Reilly flick to squirm his shot under Kepa Arizzabalaga.
Haaland, 24, was later seen in a video on social media leaving the Vitality Stadium on crutches and with his left ankle in a protective boot.
undergoing initial tests on his ankle on Monday and will now see a specialist to determine the full extent of the injury.
“They told me the doctors say between five to seven weeks,” confirmed Guardiola yesterday. “So hopefully the end of the season and by the Club World Cup he will be ready. Sometimes there are years when these kinds of things happen. It happened all season.”
City also have a visit from Crystal Palace and a trip to Everton before their FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, at Wembley Stadium on April 26.
If Haaland is out for the full seven weeks, he would be a doubt for the FA Cup final on May 17 - should City beat Forest.
Haaland's enforced absence means Guardiola will have to shuffle his pack, which could see Egyptian forward Marmoush moved into a more advanced role through the middle or potentially used as a 'false 9'.
It's a tactic Guardiola has deployed with success in the past. Though every successful team Guardiola has managed has always had a focal point up front, be it Lionel Messi at Barcelona, Robert Lewandowski at Bayern Munich, or Sergio Aguero and now Haaland at City, the Spaniard has shown great tactical flexibility by playing a striker-less system.
Never was this more evident than in the 2020/21 season when Guardiola used a variety of talented midfielders in a 'false 9' role to compensate for Aguero's injury absence.
Even when the Argentine was fit Guardiola persisted with his new formation using the likes of Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva in the role as City won the Premier League title at a canter.
That won't happen this year; the main objective is to finish at least fourth in the league to secure Champions League football again next season. Failure to do so would be unthinkable.
And while Marmoush, 26, is no stranger to playing as a central attacking striker, his searing pace and ability to spring offside traps with runs off the wing are his bread and butter.
Few can match Haaland's potency in front of goal, but despite the team's struggles, Marmoush has made an instant impact since his €70 million-plus move from Eintracht Frankfurt in January, scoring five goals in 11 games to go with the 20 he scored for the German club.
His 29 league goal involvements (19 goals and nine assists ) are second only to compatriot Mohamed Salah across Europe's top five leagues and he already has a Premier League hat-trick to his name, taking only 14 minutes to complete his treble in February's thrashing of Newcastle United.
Read more: Solskjaer 'delighted' after Besiktas beat Galatasaray and hand Fenerbahce boost in title race
