On Saturday, Manchester City will host Brighton & Hove Albion in a Premier League game at Etihad Stadium, hoping to get back on track with a victory.
The Citizens suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of Liverpool over the weekend, whereas the Seagulls played Nottingham Forest to a scoreless draw at home on Tuesday. The Citizens’ loss was their first of the season.
Our Match Preview: Manchester City vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Manchester City lost away in the Premier League for the first time since the opening day of last season after Mohamed Salah’s second-half goal. Erling Braut Haaland’s strikes couldn’t crack Liverpool’s defense.
And the Citizens haven’t scored in their previous two games, including the goalless Champions League tie with Copenhagen. Pep Guardiola’s team was awarded Club of the Year at the 2022 Ballon d’Or event on Monday.
They are now four points behind league leaders Arsenal. The Citizens have seven games before the World Cup, including five at the Etihad Stadium, where they’ve won all 12 and scored 51 goals.
This home-winning run started with a 3-0 win against Brighton in April last season. Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, and Bernardo Silva scored in the second half.
The city will hope to win again on Saturday and become only the second club in English top-flight history to win 10 consecutive home games, behind Aston Villa, who won 12 games between March and December 1897 and 13 between December 1930 and September 1931.
Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton hasn’t scored in their past three games since Leandro Trossard’s hat-trick against Liverpool earlier this month.
The Italian is still looking for his first victory since replacing Graham Potter last month after seeing his team draw 0-0 with Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
Brighton controlled the game with 71% possession and 19 efforts on goal, while the visitors failed to record a single attempt on target. Brighton was in the top four early in the season, but they’ve slid to ninth, five points behind Potter’s fourth-place Chelsea, whom they’ll meet next weekend.
Brighton has lost 10 of their 12 trips to Man City, scoring just twice and surrendering 21 goals. Returning to winning ways and rising back into the Champions League spots may be difficult in the near term.
Brighton defeated Manchester City 3-2 at home in May 2021, and a similar effort will be needed this weekend.
Our Team News: Manchester City vs Brighton & Hove Albion
As of right now, Manchester City is still without Kyle Walker (groin) and Kalvin Phillips (shoulder), but John Stones has recently returned to first-team training after being sidelined with a hamstring injury, so there is a chance that he will be included in the matchday squad for this weekend’s match.
Pep Guardiola may give Aymeric Laporte his first start of the season in the Premier League. If he does, one of Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias, or Manuel Akanji will have to take a seat on the bench as a consequence.
At Anfield, both Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez sat on the bench as replacements, but any player has a chance to start in the front three with Foden and Haaland on Saturday. The latter player has scored 10 goals in his past four home league games for the club.
As for Brighton, Kaoru Mitoma and Jakob Moder will not be able to play due to injuries sustained to their ankles and knees, respectively, while Levi Colwill has suffered a slight knock and will be evaluated before the game starts.
Adam Lallana was allowed to start the game against Forest, and he will be looking to keep his spot in an advanced midfield role alongside Pascal Gross. As a result, it is possible that Trossard will stay as an attack-minded left wing-back ahead of Pervis Estupinan.
It is anticipated that the remainder of De Zerbi’s team will stay unchanged; however, players like Billy Gilmour, Tariq Lamptey, and Deniz Undav will compete for a starting spot even though they have all spent most of the season warming the bench.
- Manchester City possible starting lineup: Ederson, Cancelo, Akanji, Laporte, Ake, De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo, Foden, Haaland, Grealish.
- Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup: Sanchez, Veltman, Dunk, Webster; March, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Trossard, Lallana, Gross, Welbeck.
Our Prediction: Manchester City 2-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Following last weekend’s loss, Pep Guardiola will be looking for a response from his Manchester City players, and the Citizens will be regarded as strong favorites to claim maximum points on Saturday, even though Brighton’s threat cannot be underestimated.
Despite this, the Citizens will be considered the favorite to win.
If Brighton is unable to rediscover their clinical touch in front of the goal, the reigning champions should have few problems securing another routine victory at the Etihad Stadium.
So far in the Premier League this season, only Crystal Palace has given City a challenge on their home turf, but they still lost 4-2.
