Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has explained why he made the surprise decision to hook Erling Haaland off at half-time during their latest victory on the weekend.
On Sunday, the Citizens secured a 3-1 win over Aston Villa as they bounced back from their loss to Tottenham Hotspur the previous weekend, and closed the gap on league leaders Arsenal to three points.
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Haaland played a pivotal role in the victory, providing the assist for the team's second goal scored by Ilkay Gundogan, before surprisingly being substituted for Julian Alvarez at half-time.
The Norwegian collided with Villans goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez midway through the first half, but appeared to shake off the challenge as he continued playing and completed the opening 45 minutes, only to fail to return to the pitch for the second half.
Guardiola has since revealed that Haaland received a knock during that collision with the Argentina shot-stopper.
"Right now, I don't know," the Spanish manager responded when asked if Haaland would be fit for the Citizens' big match against table-toppers the Gunners on Wednesday night, per the Daily Metro.
"We will have to see over the next few days.
"He got a knock and was uncomfortable so at 3-0 up we didn't want to take the risk.
"We will assess him and if he's not ready, we will play someone else.
"Hopefully he is ready."
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Guardiola also spoke about the upcoming tie against his former assistant coach Mikel Arteta's side.
"Arsenal have a game in hand," the 52-year-old added.
"We will see after all the games when the Premier League is finished.
"But we are going to London to try and get a win.
"When one team has made 50 points in the first leg, it is because they are very good.
"We closed the gap today because the performance from the team was really, really good."
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