Erling Haaland will be available to start for Manchester City at Aston Villa on Saturday, Enzo Maresca has confirmed.
The striker was an unused substitute in Wednesday's 5-1 Champions League win over AEK Athens, having been one of four injured players in the squad. Nico O'Reilly, Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic were also carrying knocks, though only Haaland made the bench.
Maresca was direct about his availability: “He’s okay to start on Saturday.”
City's comfortable win over the Greek side was powered by a Phil Foden hat trick, with Elliot Anderson and Rayan Cherki also on the scoresheet. The result came in City's matchday three league phase fixture, and it allowed Maresca to rest Jeremy Doku, Iliman Ndiaye, Marc Guehi and Ayyoub Bouaddi.
Now the focus shifts to Villa Park, a ground that has not been kind to City in recent years. The Blues have not won there since a 2-1 victory in December 2021, and their record since then reads three defeats and a draw.
Unai Emery's side will provide a stern test, but the return of Haaland to the starting XI gives City a significant boost as they look to end that barren run.