Football

London: Erling Haaland will be out of action for up to seven weeks after suffering an ankle injury, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday. The prolific 24-year-old Norwegian was injured in Sunday's 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win at Bournemouth. Having just scored his 30th goal of the season to level the tie, he was then hurt in a challenge with Bournemouth midfielder Lewis Cook. City said in a statement on Monday that they expected the forward would be fit in time to play before the end of the season, including the FIFA Club World Cup. "They told me the doctors between five and seven weeks, so hopefully at the end of the season we can be ready," Guardiola said on Tuesday. "We don't have another player with his skills or his specific qualities," he added. "We know that, but we have to adapt. "For many years we have played in different ways up front. It depends on the quality of the players. We are going to try to find a solution." City are currently fifth in the Premier League and battling to secure a spot in the Champions League next season. Guardiola's side host struggling Leicester on Wednesday and face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Football

London: Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is targeting a "game-changing" return to the Champions League after the club ended their painful 56-year trophy drought. Around 300,000 fans turned out in Newcastle at the weekend to celebrate last month's victory in the League Cup final against Liverpool. But the focus has already turned to Wednesday's Premier League clash with Brentford at St James' Park and the race for the top four. Sixth-placed Newcastle, who played in the Champions League last season for the first time in two decades, are in a scrap with a big group of clubs. Bournemouth, in 10th place, are just three points behind the Magpies, who have a game in hand over their rivals. A strong season by English sides in European competitions means it is almost certain that a top-five finish will secure a place in next season's Champions League. "It could be game-changing in terms of revenue and also in terms of what it means and the competition, and then of course the changes that you have to make to be ready for Champions League football," Howe said on Tuesday. "That changes everything -- as we found last year to our cost to some degree with the extra games -- so there's a lot to think about." But the Englishman said the run-in would be tough. "It's one of the tightest Premier Leagues that we've seen in recent times, very little between the teams competing for those places, so it's going to come down to who is the most consistent," he said. Newcastle beat runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool 2-1 in the League Cup final at Wembley but Howe said consistency was a problem, with three defeats in their past five home games in all competitions. "That is the big question: Can we be that team that we were against Liverpool? You can't be there every game, but you can still reach a standard and win the game. That is what we have got to try to do," he said. "We have done it -- we played West Ham before the final, didn't play great, but won the game through defensive steel, really. "We have to find ways to win games when we are not at our best."

Formula One

Tokyo: Yuki Tsunoda has targeted a podium finish at his home Japanese Grand Prix this weekend after his “unreal” promotion to the Red Bull team in place of the axed Liam Lawson. Tsunoda will race alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen after Red Bull ruthlessly pulled the plug on underperforming New Zealander Lawson last week, just two races into the F1 season. Tsunoda said it felt “unreal” to be driving for one of the top teams on the grid and set his sights on making an instant impact in front of the Japanese fans at Suzuka. “I don’t want to raise expectations too much but I want to finish on the podium at this Japanese Grand Prix,” the 24-year-old said at an event with Red Bull partner Honda in Tokyo on Sunday. Tsunoda steps up from Red Bull’s junior team Racing Bulls (RB), with Lawson moving back down to RB, where he was last season. Tsunoda said he did not expect to be racing for the team in Japan, after being passed over for Lawson when Mexico’s Sergio Perez left Red Bull at the end of last season. “It has all fallen into place and now I’m standing here, and that’s thanks to the support of everyone,” said Tsunoda. Tsunoda has never finished on the podium in four full seasons in F1 but he has shown pace on both race weekends this year. He was 12th in the season opener at Melbourne and only finished out of the points at Shanghai because of RB’s flawed two-stop pit strategy. Tsunoda urged Japanese fans to get behind him at Suzuka for his Red Bull grand prix debut. “The thing that I’m looking forward to most is that there couldn’t be a more pressurised, challenging situation than this,” he said. “It’s also my debut, so with all these things added up I think it’s going to be an unbelievably exciting race.” Lawson was knocked out at the first stage of all three qualifying sessions this season and has yet to score a point. The New Zealander struggled to control the Red Bull but Tsunoda said he “didn’t think it was that challenging a car to drive” after two days on a simulator. “Everyone says the car is very responsive and I got that impression too, but it didn’t seem to act in a strange, tricky manner,” he said.