Manchester City's Erling Haaland to Miss Clash with Brighton & Hove Albion

Top scorer Erling Haaland will not be available for Manchester City on Thursday when they visit Brighton & Hove Albion, according to manager Pep Guardiola, as his squad continues to aim for a fourth straight Premier League championship.

Guardiola said reporters on Wednesday that "Erling Haaland is not ready for tomorrow, (it's) not a big issue but not allowed for this game."

The forward, who has 20 goals this season and is tied for first place in the league scoring rankings with Chelsea's Cole Palmer, also missed Saturday's FA Cup semifinal victory against the Blues because of a muscle injury he suffered three days earlier during the team's Champions League quarterfinal defeat to Real Madrid.

On Thursday, when Phil Foden and John Stones return, City will have a chance to close the gap on leaders Arsenal to just one point while still having a game remaining. Guardiola's team has played 32 games, compared to 34 for Arsenal. Tenth in the standings is Brighton.

After losing to Madrid last week, City's chances of winning the triple crown vanished, but they are still in the race for another victory after winning an FA Cup final spot against Manchester United in a rematch of last year.

Guardiola remarked, "We have had a lot of issues with important players getting injured, but we are still there."

"We made it to the later stages of the Champions League, we are in the FA Cup final, and we are in the Premier League."

"However, you may reach the finish line in this manner and lose all of your titles in a week.

These days, every game matters since every error and failure is challenging. However, we have visited this location several times and are aware of the objectives.

When asked if he agreed with Nottingham Forest's critique of league officiating, Guardiola said yes.

Following their 2-0 loss to Everton on Sunday, Forest released a strongly worded statement on social media site X, alleging that Video Assistant Referee (VAR) Stuart Attwell is a supporter of Luton Town.

He said, "Absolutely disagree."

"This kind of thing is going to happen more and more in every league in the world, but naturally, I never doubted that."

"They feel awful after making a mistake. It's typical. They want to perform a good job when they execute the task. The game is really challenging; choices must be made quickly and decisively. It's not simple," he continued.

After three penalty claims were turned down at Goodison Park, Forest lost and now sits only one point above Luton, who are also in the relegation zone. The club was incensed.

The club demanded on Monday that the audio conversation between on-field official Anthony Taylor and video assistant referee Stuart Attwell be made available to the public.