Pep Guardiola gives Kevin De Bruyne injury update and backs Erling Haaland to 'score a lot more goals' for Man City during title run-in

Pep Guardiola gave an update on Kevin De Bruyne's fitness and backed Erling Haaland to "score a lot more goals" for Man City during the title run-in.

De Bruyne missed City's trip to Fulham
Guardiola provides injury update
Backs Haaland to go way past PL record

WHAT HAPPENED? The Belgian midfielder missed the trip to Craven Cottage for Manchester City's Premier League match against Fulham after reportedly suffering a knock against Arsenal. Guardiola chose to rest De Bruyne as a precautionary measure and it is not yet clear whether he will be fit to return against West Ham. However, Nathan Ake has recovered from injury and is available for selection.

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WHAT THEY SAID: "Nathan yesterday trained with us, he feels good. Kevin has started to move but didn't train with the team. We have training in a few hours and we will see," Guardiola told a press conference.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Haaland converted a third-minute penalty in City's 2-1 win over Fulham to score his 50th goal of the season across all competitions, following his £51.2m move from Borussia Dortmund in the summer. That was also his 34th goal in the league, which put him alongside Alan Shearer and Andy Cole for the most Premier League goals in a single season. Now, Guardiola has backed the Norwegian to smash the record as City march towards their fifth title in six years.

"Of course, it's good for him and the team if he breaks the record. It's a record because for a long, long time he didn't break it, maybe one day someone will break the one Erling sets because I think he is going to score a lot more goals in the Premier League before the end of the season," he added.

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