Pep Guardiola provides Erling Haaland fitness update and explains Ruben Dias substitution against Aston Villa

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has handed an update on Erling Haaland’s fitness ahead of a top-of-the-table clash against Arsenal on Wednesday evening.

City reduced the gap to the league leaders to three points after Mikel Arteta’s men dropped further points in a controversial 1-1 draw at home to Brentford.

A clever header from Rodri set the tone early on against Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium before Erling Haaland set up Ilkay Gundogan to make it two five minutes before half-time.

Riyad Mahrez converted from the spot in stoppage time after Jack Grealish was brought down in the area, with Ollie Watkins pulling one back for Unai Emery’s side in the second half.

With presumably one eye on the upcoming meeting with Arsenal, Guardiola replaced Erling Haaland and Ruben Dias with Julian Alvarez and Manuel Akanji respectively at the interval on Sunday.

A second visit to north London in ten days will see the Premier League champions lock horns with the Gunners, who have a game in hand over the Blues heading into the clash on Wednesday.

After the game, Guardiola provided an update on Haaland, who has scored 31 times in 29 appearances for Manchester City across all competitions since his £51 million switch from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

The City boss said: “Erling (Haaland) has a kick and we will see. We will assess him in the next few days to see how severe it is.

“At half-time, I spoke with the doctors to see and they said maybe at 3-0 we don’t need to take a risk and I agreed with the doctors. If the score was more tight maybe I wouldn’t do it.”

Guardiola further stated that the Norway international would be assessed in the build-up to the Arsenal game, which raises question marks over his availability against the north Londoners.

“I think he (Haaland) is not injured but tomorrow (on Monday), we will see. Hopefully he can play there (against Arsenal) on Wednesday. If he is not ready or it is a risk, he is not going to play,” the 52-year-old added.

The win on Sunday saw Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte restore balance in the backline for the Blues, with Manuel Akanji, Rico Lewis and Nathan Ake all dropped to the bench after starting in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham.

On why he chose to replace Dias with Akanji at half-time against Villa, Guardiola said: “Ruben (Dias was substituted) because it was a yellow card.

“Of course, he (Dias) was disappointed but unfortunately he got a yellow card – I don’t know why but it is what it is. With (Ollie) Watkins and (Leon) Bailey, they (Aston Villa) have good runners in behind so we decided to not take risks with the score at 3-0.”

City sent a strong message to the rest of the division on Sunday, less than a week after the Premier League charged the club with more than 100 breaches of financial regulations following a four-year investigation.

Guardiola’s men can go top of the table with three points against Arsenal on Wednesday, though the reigning champions will be wary of the threat posed by the Gunners, who will be looking to make a statement of their own after taking just one point from their last two league outings.