Erling Haaland is "getting there" as he recovers from an ankle injury, though Saturday's trip to Goodison Park to face Everton will come too soon for the Manchester City talisman.

Haaland was ruled out for a period of between five and seven weeks after going over on his ankle during the second half of City's FA Cup quarter-final victory at Bournemouth.

City have taken seven points from three Premier League matches since then, beating Leicester City 2-0 and Crystal Palace 5-2 either side of a dull goalless draw with Manchester United.

On Wednesday, Haaland posted a short video to his Instagram story, showing him jogging in the gym. At the end of the video, Haaland turned to the camera and said: "I'm getting there".

Haaland is expected to miss at least four more games, however, with an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, as well as league games against Everton, Aston Villa and Wolves, to come in the next 16 days.

In Haaland's absence, Omar Marmoush played as a central striker in last week's victory over Palace, scoring his team's second goal as they recovered from 2-0 down to win comfortably.

Marmoush has scored six goals in his first 10 Premier League appearances for City, having 15 shots on target in this time, seven more than any of his team-mates. 

Only five players have ever netted more goals in their first 10 games for the club, while in the Pep Guardiola era, only Haaland (15) and Gabriel Jesus (seven) have done so.

"The numbers are really good," Guardiola said of Marmoush's start. "He arrived in the middle of the season and in a moment when we are not good.

"Sometimes when you come when everything is fluid and everything is fine it's easy to adapt. But coming when the team is not playing good, that is a big credit."

Saturday's opponents Everton, meanwhile, beat Forest 1-0 last time out to pull some 17 points clear of the relegation zone with just six games remaining.

They have never looked to be in trouble since David Moyes returned as manager in January, and James Tarkowski believes last week's performance was their best of the season.

"It was probably our best, really. Forest are a team that have been flying here, on a real long unbeaten run. They've had an incredible season," Tarkowski said.

"We're in a good place now and then we can look forward to these final six games to go and put some more points on the board and see where we finish."

PLAYERS TO WATCH 

Everton – Abdoulaye Doucoure 

Doucoure has scored three goals in his last eight Premier League appearances for Everton, having netted just one in his previous 36. 

This season, he's averaging more shots per 90 minutes under Moyes (1.6) and more touches in the opposition box per 90 (3.3) than when he was playing for Sean Dyche (0.7 shots, 1.5 touches in the opponent's box). 

Manchester City – Kevin De Bruyne

De Bruyne has had a hand in six goals in his last six Premier League starts (one goal, five assists). 

The Belgian has both scored and assisted in 28 games for City, with only Mohamed Salah for Liverpool (41), Wayne Rooney for Manchester United (35) and Thierry Henry for Arsenal (32) doing so more often for a single club.

MATCH PREDICTION – MANCHESTER CITY WIN

Everton are winless in their last 15 Premier League games against City (D3 L12) since a 4-0 win in January 2017 under Ronald Koeman.

City drew 1-1 with Everton in the reverse fixture in December but they have not failed to win both meetings with the Toffees in a single league campaign since 2016-17 (D1 L1).

Since Moyes' return as Everton manager on January 15, only Liverpool and Arsenal (one each) have lost fewer Premier League games than the Toffees (two), who have taken 21 points in his 13 games this season (W5 D6).

However, City go into this game as favourites following their big win last week.

City's five goals against Palace took them to 102 goals in all competitions in 2024-25, a 12th consecutive season in which they have scored 100 or more goals, the longest run of any top-flight side in history.

Moyes is winless in his last 15 Premier League meetings with City (D2 L13), and with the visitors possessing a greater need for points, that run could continue.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Everton – 27.1%

Manchester City – 47.8%

Draw – 25.1%