Manchester City-Brighton is a match valid for the thirteenth day of the Premier League and is played on Saturday at 16:00: predictions, TV, streaming.
Roberto De Zerbi will have the honour of challenging for the first time in his career the coach who has most inspired him and whom he has repeatedly praised publicly, Pep Guardiola. Who, in turn, had honeyed words for him during the pre-match conference, admitting that he appreciates his courage to go against the grain of what are generally the cultural cornerstones of Italian football. For the time being, however, Brighton bear little resemblance to his bubbly Sassuolo side: having taken over four days ago from Graham Potter – who ended up at Chelsea after an excellent start to the season on the Seagulls’ bench – the coach from Brescia has not yet managed to transfer the new dictates of the game to his players. Apart from a greater pursuit of possession, Lallana and his team-mates are winless since the new coach took charge and in four games have only scored three goals, all in the 3-3 draw at Anfield against Liverpool.
Some fans turn up their noses but the feeling is that De Zerbi needs time. And he has plenty of it ahead of him: Brighton are still eighth in the table, on 15 points and just behind the European zone. However, the Seagulls will be the guests of a Manchester City side that has no intention of making any concessions. For the Citizens it is a moment of downturn after a string of consecutive victories. In the Champions League they drew 0-0 with Copenhagen and last Sunday they lost their direct clash with Liverpool – their first defeat of the season – failing to score for the second game in a row, a highly unusual statistic for Guardiola’s men.
De Zerbi
The Prediction
There should be no shortage of goals on the afternoon at the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City have so far not missed a shot and have always been very prolific. Victory will not elude Pep Guardiola this time around, who are clear favourites over De Zerbi’s Brighton in a potentially entertaining match with at least three goals in total.
Manchester City-Brighton
likely line-ups.
- MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Ederson; Cancelo, Akanji, Laporte, Aké; De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva; Foden, Haaland, Grealish.
- BRIGHTON (3-4-2-1): Sanchez; Veltman, Dunk, Webster; March, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Trossard; Lallana, Gross; Welbeck.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-1
