Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has admitted he may be forced to drop Erling Haaland to give the striker some rest. The 26-year-old has scored 10 goals in nine games for City this season, but his workload has raised concerns.
Haaland's heavy schedule
Haaland has started every game for club and country this season. He helped Norway reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup, his first major tournament with his nation, and started all four of Norway's matches during the recent international break. Norway manager Stale Solbakken confirmed that Haaland was fatigued after substituting him in their fourth and final game.
Maresca acknowledged that Haaland needs time off to avoid injury, with City due to play Ipswich on Saturday and AEK Athens in the Champions League next Tuesday, both at home.
Maresca's rotation plans
"At some point we probably need to give him rest, some days off," Maresca said in his pre-match press conference. "We are thinking about this not just with Erling because we have players, unfortunately or fortunately, they are playing all the games with us and all the games with the international teams. Elliot [Anderson], Enzo [Fernandez], Marc [Guehi], Erling, Ruben [Dias]. So at some point we probably need to give them some rest."
Haaland's double against Paris Saint-Germain in midweek took him to 10 goals in nine games this season. He leads the Premier League scoring charts with six, one more than Chelsea's Joao Pedro.
City's title push
City are top of the table with a 100 per cent record after six games. Victory over Ipswich would open up a six-point gap over defending champions Arsenal, who play Sunday away to Nottingham Forest.
Maresca will have Phil Foden available following his red card against Manchester United before the international break. "Since his red card and the international break, it has been quite long, but he is training well and is very positive," the City boss added. "We have so many games [coming up] so we will decide if he starts [on Saturday] or not. There is no doubt that he is going to give us something."
Ayyoub Bouaddi will be in contention to start against Ipswich after impressing as a substitute on Wednesday. "I decided to go less physicality and more technical with Rayan [Cherki], but against these teams you need to be quite strong in the middle," Maresca explained. "Bouaddi, Enzo and Elliot can for sure be a solution in the future. He is a fantastic player. When he is on the pitch, all the players around him improve. They are better players."
