Reason why Manchester City top midfielder Phil Foden was absent during Nottingham Forest vs Man City match

Erling Haaland has missed Manchester City’s last two games because of a muscle problem. He had to leave last week’s game against Real Madrid after 90 minutes.

Erling Haaland is back in the Manchester City group, which gives the Blues a big boost for their last five Premier League games, but Phil Foden and Ruben Dias have done two things that make them worry.

City hasn’t played in two games because Haaland hurt his muscle, but Pep Guardiola has played it down. Guardiola said Haaland “felt better” after Thursday’s game at Brighton, and he was later seen working on Friday. Now, he’s back with City to play Nottingham Forest on Sunday, even though the scorer was only named as a substitute.

To stay close to Arsenal at the top of the table, City played Forest. Arsenal was playing in the North London match right before City played Forest. Liverpool and City are still one point ahead of Liverpool, but City have two games in hand. After Sunday’s games, City will still have a game in hand over Arsenal. That game will be at Tottenham in the second-to-last game of the season.

Guardiola said three days ago that Haaland wasn’t ready to play against Brighton, but he sounded hopeful about the Norwegian’s comeback date. City has a better points-per-game record without Haaland playing, according to the numbers. When asked about this, Guardiola said, “I would rather have Erling available than not having it.”

Haaland had been back in training and was with the rest of the team when they got to the City Ground, but Foden and Dias were not among the 20 players. Foden was taken off near the end of a great game at Brighton. After starting against Real Madrid and Chelsea the week before, Dias came on as a replacement at the Amex Stadium but didn’t play. Both are sick, so MEN Sport knows that they can’t play at Forest.

When asked about Foden, Guardiola told TV before the Forest game, “He is not ready.” He’s not feeling well. He didn’t feel well today, he was in pain, and he is now back in Manchester. Things are the way they are. It has been a long season, and things like this always happen.