Haaland cleared, Kovacic and O’Reilly to be assessed as City head to Villa Park on October 24
Manchester City will travel to Villa Park to face Aston Villa on Saturday, October 24, 2026, in a Matchday 8 Premier League fixture, and manager Enzo Maresca confirmed Erling Haaland will be available while several other players remain under assessment; Antoine Semenyo is expected to be sidelined for around eight weeks.
City sit top of the Premier League after winning all seven of their opening league matches, holding a three-point lead over Arsenal and having scored 19 goals while conceding seven; Aston Villa are 12th, have won two of their last three league games and beat Newcastle United 1-0 in their most recent outing. Maresca gave the latest fitness updates following Manchester City’s 5-1 win over AEK Athens in the UEFA Champions League league phase, in which Haaland was left on the bench after suffering a foot blow during City’s 3-2 victory over Ipswich Town.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Maresca outlined which players would be put through a final check in training and which were fit to play: “We have a session this afternoon. They can be all available or not,” Maresca said. “Yesterday they were all improving, and we’ll see this afternoon. Erling is the only one 100% available, and the other three we need to wait for today’s session.”
Haaland’s foot issue occurred in the 3-2 win against Ipswich Town and saw him omitted from the matchday squad for the 5-1 victory over AEK Athens; Maresca said the Norwegian striker is now set to return to the starting XI. Across all competitions this season Haaland has scored 12 goals in 10 appearances.
Mateo Kovacic, Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes were all left out of the squad for the AEK Athens game because of fitness concerns: O’Reilly aggravated an old back problem against Ipswich, while Kovacic and Nunes were withdrawn with injuries. The trio have made progress in training and could feature against Villa if they pass the session Maresca referenced, though it remains unclear whether any would start.
Winger Antoine Semenyo sustained a knee injury in the closing stages of the win over Ipswich and will be absent for around eight weeks, a layoff Maresca confirmed as ruling him out for an extended period.
Manchester City travel to Villa Park on Saturday, October 24, 2026, for the Premier League Matchday 8 fixture that kicks off at 5:00 PM IST, with Haaland available and the fitness of Kovacic, O’Reilly and Nunes to be determined after the club’s pre-match training session.
