Manchester City face a difficult test of their title credentials against Brighton & Hove Albion at the Etihad Stadium in a rearranged Premier League clash.
Victory would see Man City return to the top position of the Premier League table, whereas at least one point could see Brighton go ninth if Leicester lose elsewhere.
Team News
Gabriel Jesus is a doubt for Man City after he suffered a knock in Saturday’s FA Cup exit against Liverpool.
Kyle Walker (ankle) and Cole Palmer (foot) are doubts but Benjamin Mendy (personal) remains absent.
Brighton could welcome Steven Alzate back into contention after he missed Saturday’s shock win at Tottenham.
Yves Bissouma (suspension) and Shane Duffy (thigh) join Jakub Moder (knee) on the sidelines.
Stat Attack
- Man City have lost just one of nine previous Premier League meetings against Brighton (W8, L1).
- Brighton are yet to win away at Man City in 11 league meetings (D2, L9), including four defeats in the Premier League (L4).
- City’s Phil Foden has scored four goals in his last three appearances against Brighton.
- Kevin De Bruyne has scored three goals in Man City’s last two league matches at home, in which he opened the scoring in both games in the fifth minute.
- Brighton are looking for three consecutive league victories for the first time since October 2018.
Prediction
Following Saturday’s lacklustre display at Wembley which lacked rhythm and contained more defensive sloppiness, Man City simply have to improve because I haven’t seen such a poor performance from City in a long time especially where they were outclassed throughout the first-half alone.
Pep Guardiola’s tactical decisions concerning his bench also deserves a mention because to make just one substitution at 3-1 down early in the second-half is bizarre, especially when players like Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan were left on the bench unused.
Brighton meanwhile come into this match off two huge away victories over Arsenal and Tottenham, of which they were very organised defensively in both matches whilst they were just clinical with real attacking confidence in the latter match to punish an off-colour Spurs.
I however suspect that this game could be just one shock result beyond Brighton’s reach unless City’s defensive issues continue, which could well enable them to at least nick one goal or two.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Brighton
Result: Manchester City 3-0 Brighton
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