Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has confirmed Erling Haaland is “100%” available for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa.

Haaland picked up a foot injury last weekend in his side’s 3–2 win over Ipswich Town and, amid doubts over his fitness, went unused on the bench in Tuesday’s victory over AEK Athens in the Champions League—a fixture for which he could have feasibly been rested anyway.

The difficulty ramps back up this weekend when City travel to face Villa in Saturday’s early game, and with concerns still lingering over Nico O’Reilly, Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovačić, Maresca was delighted to confirm his star attraction will be back in the lineup.

“[The injured players] can all be available or not in terms of still doubt,” Maresca revealed. “Yesterday, they were all improving, and we’ll see this afternoon.

“For sure, Erling is the only one 100% available.”

Haaland already has eight goals in just seven Premier League appearances and sits three clear of both Alexander Isak and João Pedro in the scoring charts at this early stage of the season. A record-tying fourth Golden Boot to match Thierry Henry and Mohamed Salah is already in his sights.

Haaland’s Return Provides Welcome Boost to Stretched Forward Line

City are still reeling from the news that winger Antoine Semenyo is going to miss two months of action through his own injury.

Maresca’s forward line has yet to be truly tested without Semenyo, with the AEK Athens game giving him chance to rotate as Allan came in on the wing and 17-year-old Floyd Samba started in place of Haaland. It was the Phil Foden show as the Englishman netted a hat trick and set up a goal for Rayan Cherki, who Maresca described as “one of the best players in Europe” when at his best.

Villa should provide a much sterner test for a City side searching for an eighth successive victory to start the new Premier League season.

Jérémy Doku should replace Semenyo on the wing against Unai Emery’s side, who face the daunting prospect of having to try and stop Haaland, although few teams boast a record against the Norway international as impressive as Villa.

In five appearances, Haaland has only netted once against the Villans, and that came in his first meeting all the way back in 2022. He has since gone four games without scoring, missing two more through injury and sitting out another on the bench.

Villa had a slow start to the season but have rediscovered the sort of form that took them into the top four again last year. Emery’s side have won five of their last six in all competitions, with a 2–2 draw against Brentford the only blemish on their record in over a month.

This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘The Only One’—Enzo Maresca Reveals Erling Haaland Return Plan for Aston Villa Trip.