Out of the blue, Man City have suffered two consecutive defeats in the Premier League and those six dropped points mean MCFC are currently third on the table with 18 points.
The international break will have given the players and the manager time to recollect their thoughts because they are going to face Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend and if Manchester City’s aren’t 100% focused, the Seagulls have the talent to inflict a third straight defeat.
Man City, on paper, will be the favourites to win on Saturday but Brighton are having a dream run under De Zerbi and they have already beaten teams like Newcastle, Man United and recently Liverpool this season. The Seagulls will go into this match with the hopes of winning it because if they can pick up three points they will actually be level on points with Man City.
Man City have a Champions League tie next week but that match is against Young Boys so Pep Guardiola doesn’t have too much to worry about. Also, MCFC are one of the rare English teams that has a very small injury list which means Guardiola has no reason to name a weak starting line up on Saturday.
Manchester City’s team news and injuries:
Gvardiol seems to be the current favourite for the left-back role so he will start in that position with Walker slotting into the other side of defence.
Against Arsenal, Nathan Ake played in central defence but this weekend, we think Manuel Akanji is going to come into the side, featuring alongside Ruben Dias. Dias was actually the poorer of the two central defenders in that defeat but he is the primary centre-back for Man City so he will hold onto his place.
Kevin De Bruyne is the only injured player for MCFC right now but it won’t be a problem for the manager because Rodri is going to return from his three-match suspension and the DM will come straight into midfield this weekend.
Rodri’s return is going to be a huge sigh of relief because Man City have lost all three matches in which he’s been suspended. First, they crashed out of the EFL Cup and then lost to Wolves and Arsenal.
The 27-year-old coming back means neither Kalvin Phillips nor Matheus Nunes is going to get a start. Mateo Kovacic is going to be the second central midfielder alongside Rodri with Bernardo Silva playing in the No 10 role.
Julian Alvarez can also play in the attacking midfielder’s position in which case Silva will move out to the right wing however, both of them will start.
Jeremy Doku, Grealish and Phil Foden are all fighting for the left-winger’s spot in the Man City side but because Grealish played only five minutes against Italy, he is going to be the freshest among the three.
Doku did not play the second match in the break either but between these two, the Man City manager is going to select Jack Grealish.
Man City predicted line up vs Brighton:
Predicted Starting Line Up(4-2-3-1): Ederson; Ruben Dias, Akanji/Ake, Walker, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovacic, Alvarez; Bernardo Silva, Haaland, Grealish.
