The Norwegian objective machine suffered a groin damage after scoring his second hat-trick in a matter of days within the 6-0 demolition of Vincent Kompany’s Championship leaders Burnley within the FA Cup quarter-finals earlier than the worldwide break, and was subsequently compelled to withdraw from his nation’s opening pair of Euro 2024 qualifiers towards Spain and Georgia.Haaland then missed final weekend’s top-flight assembly with Liverpool, although Metropolis didn’t skip a beat with out their record-breaking talisman as they ran out comfy 4-1 winners with out him.Nevertheless, the 22-year-old – who has notched an unbelievable 42 objectives in simply 37 appearances throughout all competitions in his first season in English soccer – returned to coaching on Wednesday and has skilled no setbacks since, which means he might be within the group to face Southampton at St Mary’s tomorrow as Metropolis try to trim Arsenal’s title lead again down to 5 factors earlier than the Gunners head to Anfield on Sunday.Return: Erling Haaland will play for Manchester Metropolis towards Southampton after damage / Getty Photographs for Nike“He skilled the final two days, actually good,” Guardiola stated of Haaland at his pre-match press convention on Friday. “He might be prepared.”After their go to to the south coast, Metropolis have the small matter of the primary leg of their heavyweight Champions League quarter-final tie towards Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern Munich on the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night time.Nevertheless, Guardiola denied earlier than the reunion together with his former employers that Haaland wanted extra minutes beneath his belt to make sure that he’s totally on top of things for such a high-profile fixture.READ MORE“Bayern Munich is the final thought,” he stated. “It’s Southampton. The Premier League is day-after-day, each week. It depends upon that.”Guardiola was additionally adamant that taking part in 24 hours earlier than leaders Arsenal this weekend didn’t provide them any form of benefit within the title race.“There is no such thing as a benefit,” he stated. “Once we performed a title race towards Liverpool, generally we performed earlier than, generally late. We’ve to win our video games.”