Manchester City meet Brighton & Hove Albion in a huge clash in the top-four race.
Victory will lift Man City up to fourth in the table, whilst Brighton will leapfrog Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens into fifth with a win.
Team News
Man City have no fresh injury concerns to report following their defeat at Nottingham Forest last weekend.
Nathan Ake (foot), Oscar Bobb (fitness), Manuel Akanji (muscle), John Stones (thigh) and Rodri (knee) remain ruled out.
Brighton could welcome Tariq Lamptey back from his one-match ban.
Matt O’Riley (knee), Lewis Dunk (rib), Joel Veltman (foot), Jason Steele (shoulder), Ferdi Kadioglu (toe), Igor Julio and James Milner (both hamstring) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Man City host Brighton at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 15 March at 3pm GMT, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Man City have lost one of their last seven league meetings against Brighton (W5, D1, L1).
- Brighton have lost all seven previous Premier League trips to Man City (L7).
- Brighton are yet to receive a red card against Man City after 15 previous Premier League meetings.
- City’s Erling Haaland has converted four of his shots onto the woodwork this season in the top-flight.
- Joao Pedro has scored in Brighton’s last three league matches (W3), of which two of his goals were netted from the penalty spot.
Prediction
With just one point separating Man City and Brighton coming into this game ahead of the international break, there is a lot riding on this momentum wise.
City simply lacked much quality end product for all of their possession and attacking dominance with little intensity increase as the match wore on, which certainly is a worrying sign of where they stand as a team given that they’re usually at the strongest at this stage of the season yet now lack their usual sharp quality.
Brighton on the other hand are unbeaten in their last six games in all competitions but lacked their usual energetic rhythm in a ruthless comeback against Fulham, having played 120-plus minutes in the FA Cup two weeks ago so hopefully we will see them back to their best in this critical game.
Although the Etihad hasn’t been polite to Brighton in the top-flight, I actually think that they might just get something if can defend well and be just as clinical against a now inconsistent but still dangerous City team, as long as they can stop the hosts from finding their top gears.
Prediction: Man City 1-1 Brighton
Result: Man City 2-2 Brighton
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