Guardiola reveals Haaland STILL not fit enough to return for City this weekend

Manchester City are still without top scorer Erling Haaland – stretching his absence to a ninth game.

Haaland suffered a foot injury after a defeat at Aston Villa last month and had looked like making positive progress over the festive period.

The 23-year-old travelled with the Treble winners for their Club World Cup triumph and was undergoing individual work with Saudi Arabia before re-joining team sessions.

But Haaland will miss the trip to Newcastle United on Saturday evening, with midfielder Kevin De Bruyne in contention to feature from the start following hamstring surgery.

'Jack [Grealish] has been sick and hopefully today he is back,' Pep Guardiola said. 'Erling is out and John [Stones] is out.'

Manuel Akanji was forced off during last week's FA Cup win over Huddersfield Town and has not trained all week either.

Guardiola added: 'Kevin De Bruyne is ready to start and I can see he is very good and the trip to Abu Dhabi [next week] will do him good too.

'I saw him yesterday and he feels good and dynamic. He played well, better than the sessions before Huddersfield. He's getting better.'

Haaland remains the frontrunner for the Premier League's golden boot despite missing the last four matches, while City can go within two points of leaders Liverpool should they win at St James' Park.

'You cannot imagine how pleased I am for us to be where we are in the competitions this season,' Guardiola said. 'I was tired at the beginning of the season and I was a bit worried with all the challenges we have faced, but we won two trophies already.'