Man City vs Brighton Preview: Team News & Prediction
by Alex Sarwar ·
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On the back of a damaging 1-1 draw against Chelsea, Man City are back in action at the Etihad Stadium, with Brighton the visitors this time.
Kick-off date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – Sky Sports / USA – Peacock Premium
How to watch online: UK – Sky Go / USA – Peacock Premium
Man City team news
Predicted XI (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Nunes, Ake, Khusanov, O’Reilly; Silva, Gonzalez, Foden; Cherki, Haaland, Doku
Unavailable: Dias (Injured), Gvardiol (Injured), Ait-Nouri (International duty), Kovacic (Injured), Marmoush (International duty)
Questionable: Savinho (Injured), Stones (Injured), Gonzalez (Injured), Bobb (Injured)
Brighton team news
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Kadioglu; Hinshelwood, Ayari; Minteh, Rutter, Mitoma; Welbeck
Unavailable: Webster (Injured), Baleba (International duty), Wieffer (Injured), Tzimas (Injured)
Questionable: March (Injured), Minteh (Injured)
Man City vs Brighton prediction
Man City’s title challenge suffered a crushing blow on Sunday as they conceded a last-gasp equaliser at home to Chelsea, costing them two points and leaving Pep Guardiola’s side now six points behind league leaders Arsenal. It’s the second game running that Man City have dropped points after being held to a 0-0 draw by Sunderland on New Year’s Day as well. Perhaps even more damaging were the injuries sustained by two key defenders at the weekend. A broken shinbone has likely ruled Josko Gvardiol out for the season, whilst Ruben Dias will miss over a month with a hamstring injury.
Brighton are sat comfortably in mid-table after a 2-0 win over lowly Burnley in the Seagulls’ first Premier League fixture of 2026, easing a few nerves somewhat following a winless run of six top flight games prior to that. Scoring goals hasn’t been an issue for Brighton of late, having found the net twice in back-to-back matches and they’ll fancy their chances of more success in front of goal in Manchester when taking into account their opponents’ defensive absentees.
It’s hard to see Guardiola’s men keeping a clean sheet when considering that their backline is now down to the barebones. Brighton should get opportunities, especially on the counter-attack but keeping a frustrated Man City and Erling Haaland out at the other end is likely a bridge too far. The hosts likely know that they will need to be ultra-offensive to make up for the shortfall in defence and it’s the attack which should carry them to a win. Back a home victory with both teams scoring.
Man City vs Brighton tip: Man City to win and both teams to score
