Erling Haaland is left out for Man City AGAIN against Fulham following his recovery from injury

  /  autty

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been left out of the starting line-up once again for their Premier League clash against Fulham.

The Norwegian, who has scored 22 goals in all competitions already this season, will instead be on the bench for the clash after missing the two matches through injury.

The 22-year-old had been struggling with a bout of flu and also the foot problem, forcing him out of City's 1-0 win at Leicester City and 3-1 victory over Sevilla.

Haaland has returned to the matchday squad following his return to training this week, but boss Pep Guardiola has opted to go against putting his star man straight back into the starting line-up.

Julian Alvarez, who has been deputising for Haaland in the last two matches, keeps his place in the team after his superb display in the Champions League in mid-week.

The Argentine has scored five times in 17 matches for City so far this season, including picking up a goal and two assists in their 3-1 victory over Sevilla to wrap up the Champions League group-stages.

Earlier this week, Guardiola also confirmed that Haaland was feeling much better, as he returned to training.

'He's much better. We will decide today [if he can play against Fulham],' the Spaniard said.

'It's a good step, he starts to train, and we have training this afternoon and we will see.'

Asked what factors will be taken into consideration, Guardiola added: 'Himself, his opinion, the doctor's opinion. If it's 90 minutes or less we will see after training.'

Related: Fulham Manchester City Guardiola Haaland
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