Predicted Starting Line-Up: Brighton & Hove Albion vs Manchester City (Premier League)

Manchester City look to break out of their three-game losing run in a Premier League showdown with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday evening on the south coast.

Pep Guardiola’s side have had a rough go of it as of late, dropping three consecutive games for just the third time in the Catalan’s tenure, with the most recent defeat coming in disastrous fashion at Sporting CP in the Champions League.

Injuries have plagued the reigning Premier League champions in that stretch, missing up to 10 players at one point since losing to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup just over a week ago. But they will have to piece together something fluid in order to regain form.

Despite the dip in results as of late, Manchester City head into the weekend’s clash with Brighton just two points shy of league leaders Liverpool, and could steal their spot at the summit if results go there way.

Ahead of the showdown, let’s take a look at how we believe Pep Guardiola’s could set his side up to try and turn things around!

Predicted XI

Ederson will retain his place in goal for Manchester City this weekend having kept Stefan Ortega out of UEFA Champions League action for just the second time this season whilst at Sporting on Tuesday night.

Kyle Walker‘s form has not been great as of late, but with Brighton & Hove Albion’s pace on the break, Pep Guardiola may revert to leaning on his veteran full-back and Manchester City club captain.

Meanwhile, the injury crisis means Manchester City have only one potential centre-back pairing barring the introduction of more youngsters to the side; Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake, with the latter not fully-fit according to his manager.

On the left-side of the Manchester City defence, Josko Gvardiol has been one of the lone bright spots in the last few weeks and with Ake starting in the centre, the Croatian would be guaranteed a role in the side.

The midfield has raised plenty of question marks in Rodri’s absence so far this season, but the likeliest outcome is we see Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic together once again at the base of a central trio.

Ahead of them, Phil Foden is just starting to regain some of the scintillating form we saw in the 2023/24 campaign.

With plenty of injuries on the wing for Manchester City, we could see something rather different this weekend, with Jeremy Doku potentially coming into the right side to try and ignite the attack ahead of Walker.

On the other flank, and maintaining his position for yet another contest, Matheus Nunes has proven to be one of Manchester City’s most consistent performers since taking up his new role and is likely to hold things down at the Amex.

Then, of course, that leaves Erling Haaland to lead the line for Manchester City once again, after the club’s mainstay striker missed a few timely chances against Sporting and will certainly be playing angry this time around.

Predicted XI: Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol; Gundogan, Kovacic, Foden; Doku, Haaland, Nunes.

Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Simpson-Pusey, Wright, O’Reilly, Bernardo, McAtee, De Bruyne, Savinho.