City's forward line in crisis before AEK clash

Semenyo picked up the knee problem during the win over Ipswich and has been ruled out for eight weeks, according to the Guardian. That is a significant stretch for a club that leans so heavily on its front line, and it strips Guardiola of a forward option right as the fixture list starts to bite.

The bigger worry lands on Haaland. The Norwegian is listed as a doubt for the AEK Athens tie at the Etihad, and with City's season built so clearly around what he does in the final third, any absence changes the shape of the team overnight. Premier League figures have him at eight goals from 619 minutes this season, on top of 27 goals and eight assists across 2,953 minutes in 2025/26. Losing him, even for one match, is not a like-for-like swap.

A squad built around one man

City sit top of the Premier League on 21 points from seven games, unbeaten and with a goal difference of plus 12. That run has papered over the fact that the attacking depth behind Haaland is thinner than the table suggests. With Semenyo now out for two months, Guardiola's alternatives in attack are suddenly a much shorter list than he would like heading into a Champions League home game.

AEK Athens will not be an easy out even with a full-strength City side. Against a weakened one, with Haaland's fitness genuinely uncertain, the European night at the Etihad looks a lot more precarious than it did a week ago.

What Guardiola has to decide

The call on Haaland will likely come close to kick-off. If he is passed fit, City can lean on the same system that has carried them through an unbeaten league start. If he is not, Guardiola is working from a squad suddenly missing both his main striker option and his backup inside the space of a few days, right in the middle of a packed October schedule.