Manchester City will be hoping to return to winning ways when they host Brighton and Hove Albion on Wednesday at 7:30pm.
The Citizens have drawn their past two matches to sit six points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal. Pep Guardiola’s side are also only ahead of third-placed Aston Villa on goal difference.
Man City predicted lineup vs Brighton
Man City (4-1-4-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Ake, O’Reilly; Gonzalez; Silva, Foden, Cherki, Reijnders; Haaland.
Brighton have become a bit of a bogey team for Man City. The Seagulls are unbeaten in their past three league games in this fixture, winning two. That includes victory over Man City at the Amex Stadium earlier this season.
But Man City are unbeaten in their 15 home league games against Brighton, winning 12 and drawing three.
Man City team news vs Brighton
There were many blows in Man City’s draw with Chelsea at the weekend. As well as the dropped points, Man City lost more players through injury.
Both Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias had to come off in the second half and Guardiola revealed the pair are expected to be sidelined for “a few weeks”. Abdukodir Khusanov and Nathan Ake came on to replace them against Chelsea, and they’ll be expected to start as Man City’s two centre-backs on Wednesday.
The full-backs shouldn’t change, due to a lack of options, and Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes playing their way into must-starts for Guardiola. Rico Lewis is another option at right-back, but he’s likely to remain on the bench.
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There is a question mark about the deepest midfield spot, though. Nico Gonzalez picked up an injury in the draw with Sunderland and missed the game against Chelsea at the weekend. Rodri started in his place at the Etihad, but Guardiola may want to avoid starting the Spaniard in back-to-back matches.
So there’s a chance that Gonzalez could return to the starting XI if he is available. Otherwise, Guardiola may not opt to change the rest of the midfield and attack with Tijjani Reijnders impressing at the weekend. Jeremy Doku will be hoping to earn a spot in the starting XI, while Savinho is likely to miss out due to injury.
Man City remain without Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri, with the pair on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations. John Stones, Oscar Bobb and Mateo Kovacic are all injured.
Man City’s worrying attacking stats
Man City have had 28 shots across their past two games, managing 14 against both Sunderland and Chelsea. But the Citizens have only hit the target seven times, scoring once.
They were two very different games, though. Against Sunderland, Man City hit the target with four of their 14 shots, but their finishing was poor. Guardiola’s side recorded 2.24 Expected Goals but that decreased to 0.74 xG on Target. So their shot placement actually lessened their chances of scoring.
Man City recorded just 1.02 xG against Chelsea, with three of their 14 shots hitting the target. They improved to 1.23 xGOT, but they were taking the initial shots from poor positions to begin with. Even the improvement on finishing couldn’t help Man City score more than once.
At the same time, Erling Haaland has now failed to score in each of his past three Premier League games. He has never started four consecutive league matches without scoring in his career.