By Ian King
Seagulls soaring
Brighton arrive in Manchester for this match in excellent form, with four straight wins in the Premier League and a place in the FA Cup Quarter-Finals having been booked with an impressive win away to Newcastle United. Manchester City, meanwhile, have become the Premier League’s least consistent team, having alternated between winning and losing over their last five matches in the league.
Brighton looking for first win at City
That Brighton beat City 2-1 at The Amex earlier this season was a rare occurrence. The two clubs have met 16 times since Abu Dhabi bought City, and this was only Brighton’s second win. Their only other against them came at the end of the 2020/21 season when they beat them 3-2 at The Amex. Prior to that, their last League win came back in April 1989. Brighton have never won an away match against Manchester City.
Key players
The issue with playing against Brighton is that their goals can come from so many different sources. João Pedro has scored in his last three games, but there’s also Kaoru Mitoma, Danny Welbeck, Yankuba Minteh and Georginio Rutter to have to deal with. If Manchester City are to go on the front foot, the involvement of Omar Marmoush could be crucial. He was highly impressive in scoring a hat-trick against Newcastle last month but hasn’t scored since.
Team News
Well, at least there haven’t been any additions to the Manchester City walking wounded. Rodri, Nathan Ake, John Stones, Manuel Akaji and Oscar Bobb all remain on the long-term injured list. Kevin De Bruyne, Mateo Kovačić and Omar Marmoush did not start their 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest, though they could feature this time around.
Brighton have an even lengthier injury list. Joel Veltman should return soon but may not be ready in time for this one, while the same goes for Lewis Dunk and Matthew O’Riley. Any or all of those three could be called up for this one. Igor Junior, James Milner, Ferdi Kadıoğlu and Jason Steele are longer-term injuries.
Prediction
There are many conflicting factors which make trying to make a prediction for this match feel like peering through a particularly thick fog. There’s Manchester City’s inconsistency over recent matches, and the fug they’ve been in all season regardless. There’s Brighton’s abysmal record at The Etihad; it’s worth pointing out at this juncture that not only have Brighton never won away there, but they’ve never drawn there either.
And then there’s the fact that although they’ve been impressive in their last five games, Brighton do have that hint of the unpredictable about them. Their last defeat prior to the start of their recent little run was that 7-0 routing at Nottingham Forest. But Brighton are only a point behind City, and even the lengthiest runs without a win will end some time. So I’m going for a 3-2 Brighton win, though the score could be more unlikely even than this.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.
