Man City boss Pep Guardiola provides Erling Haaland injury update after thumping Bournemouth win
Erling Haaland injury: Man City boss Pep Guardiola has opened up after thumping Bournemouth win
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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has reacted after Erling Haaland's injury in Saturday's Premier League clash with Bournemouth.
The Norway international came off at half time with his side already 3-0 up at the Etihad Stadium.
Jeremy Doku struck to put City in cruise control, with Bernardo Silva and Manuel Akanji also bagging.
Phil Foden added a fourth in the second half, with Luis Sinisterra pulling one back, before Bernardo got his second in the closing stages with a deft lob and Nathan Ake also struck.
Man City hitman Erling Haaland was forced out of his side's win over Bournemouth on Saturday
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However, while it was a good day for City, the defending champions suffered a scare when Haaland came off after the opening 45 minutes.
But Guardiola has now provided an update, merely saying he was unwilling to risk his star man and he should be available for upcoming matches against Young Boys and Chelsea.
"Twist in the ankle, we didn't want to take risks with him he didn't feel comfortable," said the Spaniard.
"He'll be back maybe Tuesday but maybe next Sunday."
He added: "Hopefully not a big issue."
With Haaland only playing the first half, that allowed some of his team-mates to step up.
And Doku seemed to flourish, with the Belgian scoring once and clocking up four assists as his team ran riot.
Guardiola was full of praise for the winger after the game, while also revealing he's been left shocked by the 21-year-old's rapid adjustment to life in the Premier League.
"What surprised me the most is how clever he is when he has to take a decision, it's really good," he stated.
"He applies feedback immediately, he understands the game really well.
"I don't want to change how he is, every game he has played he has played well especially here at home."
City defender Ake also opened up after his side's win.
And the Netherlands international has challenged his team-mates to keep picking up victories as they look to win the title for the fourth year in a row.
"It shows that we want to continue what we've been doing," he said. "Last week was a good game but the league goes on and you have to keep going and keep winning.
"We expected them [Bournemouth] to play with four defenders as they have all season but they changed to five.
"It's about finding the spaces, Jeremy [Doku] was fantastic sometimes you need individual quality to open up the game and he did that he was fantastic."
On Doku, he continued: "His personality, he works hard, he's a good guy and he gets on with everyone.
"He's not shy to show his abilities, he wants to take everyone on even in training.
"He's so difficult to mark and he's going to be important this season.
"There's always improvement to be made, Pep [Guardiola] is never happy or settled and neither are we we have to keep going and improving."
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Man City winger Jeremy Doku was outstanding during Bournemouth win
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Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola, meanwhile, was disappointed with the way his side performed and admitted they failed to pose a threat.
"I don't think the game should've ended the way it did, the punishment was too severe!" he said.
"Almost every time they had a clear chance they scored.
"We made the mistake to start to think we were defending well because we were compact and we can do that for 25-30 minutes.
"But we lacked some aggression, we were better in the second half. They scored three but it's more the style of the team. We were not threatening them."