Brighton & Hove Albion continue to chase a first Premier League win of the season as they host Manchester City.
Victory will lift Brighton out of the relegation zone, whilst Man City can go as high as second with a win if Nottingham Forest fail to win elsewhere.
Team News
Georginio Rutter is a doubt for Brighton after he missed their Carabao Cup victory at Oxford United with an unspecified injury.
Solly March and Adam Webster (both knee) are still ruled out.
Man City will have Rayan Ait-Nouri available after he suffered a minor ankle injury in their 2-0 home loss to Tottenham.
Marcus Bettinelli (knock), Josko Gvardiol (knock), Kalvin Phillips, Mateo Kovacic (Achilles) and Savinho (unspecified) remain ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Brighton host Man City at AMEX Stadium on Sunday 31 August at 2pm BST, live on Sky Sports Main Event in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Brighton have won just one of their last eight league meetings against Man City (W1, D2, L5).
- Man City have lost two of their last five league visits to Brighton (W2, D1, L2).
- City’s Erling Haaland has scored in each of his last three appearances against Brighton (W1, D1, L1).
- In Brighton’s first two league games of the campaign, nobody produced more shots than Matt O’Riley (4).
- No Man City player has had more touches in the opposition box this season than Haaland (12).
Prediction
Having put their sloppy display at Everton behind them with a ruthless 6-0 Carabao Cup triumph at Oxford Utd, Brighton now need to try and take their new-found confidence and apply that here but be defensively resilient if want to frustrate City.
Man City though will be eager to deliver a more clinical display after their sloppy defeat to Tottenham in which their defence lacked the quality to deal with quick transitions from Spurs’ defence to counter-attack, whilst James Trafford’s errors didn’t help matters either.
Brighton though proved a tricky thorn for City last season and now that the Seagulls have a first win of the season under their belt – albeit in Carabao Cup, I can see them eying a surprise first win of the season here but a draw might be a more reasonable result.
Prediction: Brighton 1-1 Man City
Result: Brighton 2-1 Man City
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