Haaland Fully Fit for Aston Villa as Maresca Assesses Trio

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Erling Haaland is fully available for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa. The Norway international, who has scored 12 goals this season, was rested for the 5-1 Champions League win over AEK Athens earlier in the week as Maresca rotated his squad.

Fitness decisions remain pending on Nico O’Reilly, Mateo Kovačić and Matheus Nunes, none of whom featured against AEK. Maresca said the trio would be assessed after Thursday’s training session. “We have a session this afternoon – all of them can be available or not,” he explained. “In terms of those still in doubt, yesterday they were all improving and we will this afternoon. Erling is the only one 100% available. And the other three we need to wait for today’s session.”

City travel to Villa Park aiming to extend a perfect start of seven wins from seven league matches. They currently sit three points clear at the top of the table. Maresca described the mood in the squad as positive but insisted the early success has only increased the desire for more results. “The mood is very good. I said many times the mood is good. We are happy with our start but we are more hungry for more wins. We’re happy at the moment but want more.” He added that it remains far too early to rule any teams out of the title race with many games still to play.

The manager expects a demanding test against Unai Emery’s side, who are unbeaten in their last seven matches and maintained a 100% Champions League record with a 3-1 win over Viking on Wednesday. “I have huge respect for Unai,” Maresca said. “He has done well in all of his clubs he has been and he is a fantastic manager. They are a very good team. You can recognise the team and you can see clearly what they want. They are very intense off the ball. They are in a good mood, they are winning games and I’m sure 100% that it will be a tough game.”

Kick-off at Villa Park is scheduled for 12:30 UK time. City will look to continue their strong domestic form while managing the availability of O’Reilly, Kovačić and Nunes following the midweek rotation.