Erling Haaland's Premier League campaign is at risk of being over after Pep Guardiola revealed the Manchester City star is expected to be out for "five to seven weeks". The 24-year-old hobbled off during City's weekend victory over Bournemouth and was seen leaving the Vitality Stadium in a protective boot.

City released a statement on Monday evening, issuing an update on Haaland's fitness, claiming they were confident he would return before the end of the season after sustaining an ankle problem. But, in a fresh blow, Guardiola revealed the goal-machine's domestic campaign is already all but over.

Commenting ahead of City's clash with Leicester City, Guardiola said: "The doctors told me between five and seven weeks, so hopefully at the end of the season and [Club] World Cup he will be ready." As things stand, seven weeks would take City right up to their final match of the domestic campaign, meaning the chance of Haaland featuring for the four-in-a-row champions again this season is slim.

With 30 goals across all competitions so far, Haaland's absence poses a problem for Guardiola, who heralded the importance of the attacker during Tuesday's press conference. He added: "We don't have another player with his skills or his specific qualities - we know that. But we have to adapt, and for many years we've played different ways up front, and it depends on the quality of the players. We are going to try to find a solution."

Guardiola later added: "We need players, other qualities, and we have to bring more players with the sense of goal close to the box - that's for sure. Erling, his numbers again have been exceptional, and he's our incredible threat for many things - long balls, sense of goal - but we have to adjust with other players."

The most obvious solution would be deploying January signing Omar Marmoush as Haaland's deputy, with the Egyptian having scored the winning goal against Bournemouth on Sunday. The £59million arrival has netted five times since joining from Eintracht Frankfurt earlier this year, including a stunning hat-trick during a February demolition of fellow Champions League chasers Newcastle United.

City enter the mid-week Premier League action one point ahead of the Magpies in fifth spot, which is likely to return Champions League qualification this season. On the task at hand this season, Guardiola mused: "I know how tough Leicester are. I have been impressed by the way they have played the last two games. They played really well against Chelsea and against Aston Villa they played really good, in different ways. They did really well. So we need them [the fans] desperately to achieve our success and to be in the Champions League again."

He concluded: "Don't tell me about the toughest battles, we've had much tougher battles in the past than this one. When you have to win 16 or 17 games in a row to win the Premier League, don't tell me it's not a tough one." City take on Leicester at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, with kick-off pencilled in for 7:45pm.