Manchester City vs Brighton Prediction: Injuries to make things nervy for City

A late equaliser at home to Chelsea on Sunday saw Manchester City fall to six points behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race. They will look to make amends when Brighton & Hove Albion make the trip to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday (19:30 GMT, Sky Sports Main Event).

The Seagulls did get the better of the Citizens in the reverse fixture back in August, so Pep Guardiola and his players will be determined to ensure they don't slip up again. Read on for my Manchester City vs Brighton predictions, accompanied by the latest match odds and team news.

Team News

City suffered two huge injury blows at the weekend as both centre-backs Josko Gvardiol (shin) and Ruben Dias (muscle) were forced off the pitch. The former's season could be over, while the latter is facing a few weeks on the sidelines.

Mateo Kovacic (ankle), John Stones (thigh), Oscar Bobb (hamstring), Savinho and Nico Gonzalez (both knocks) are the other players in the treatment room.

After failing to capitalise on their chances at the weekend, Guardiola could freshen up the attack, with Jeremy Doku potentially considered for a recall.

Premier League Odds

Brighton are expected to be without the services of Solly March, Adam Webster, Stefanos Tzimas (all knee), Yankuba Minteh (leg) and Mats Wiefer (toe) due to injury on Wednesday.

Pascal Gross made a second-half appearance for the Seagulls in their 2-0 home win over Burnley on Saturday after rejoining the club from Borussia Dortmund, whom he left Brighton for in the summer of 2024.

Charalampos Kostoulas impressed on his first Premier League start at the weekend and should retain his place up top. Danny Welbeck will push for a recall but he has failed to score in nine league appearances at the Etihad.

Today's Football Fixtures

Manchester City vs Brighton Odds

Man City are the 2/5 favourites to prevail here, having won eight of their previous nine home league matches. Three of their past four victories in the top flight (home and away) have seen them record a clean sheet, and they are 8/5 (implied probability of 38.5%) to win to nil.

The hosts have now drawn their past two outings in the Premier League and the stalemate is valued at 4/1.

Brighton are 13/2 to stun City for the second time this season but they have won just two of their 10 away games to date.

BTTS - Yes has struck in the Seagulls' past two away fixtures and is valued at 8/13 on this occasion.

Match Result & Both Teams To Score - Man City & Yes @ 6/4

Sunday's draw with Chelsea was a crushing blow to City, amplified by the injuries to two of their key players. The sad truth is that the equaliser was coming. As City squandered their chances to put the game to bed, Chelsea continued to threaten on the break - it was only a matter of time before they scored.

Guardiola will likely emphasise to his attackers that they will need to be ruthless against Brighton, especially after how the reverse fixture panned out. The likes of Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki will need to show off their quality in the final third - which I think they can do against a team who have not been happy travellers this term.

However, this could be a nervy one for City as their back line now looks very fragile with Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nathan Ake and Nico O'Reilly. I'll be amazed if Brighton can't conjure up goalscoring opportunities against this defence.

That's why I've added BTTS - Yes to the selection, which has been a winning bet in each of the Seagulls' previous two away trips in the top flight.

First Goalscorer - Erling Haaland @ 2/1

As much as I would like to back Haaland to score anytime for some added insurance, his 4/9 price doesn't tickle my fancy. Instead I am opting for him to open the scoring at a much more attractive 2/1.

The City front man is now three league games without a goal, his longest drought of the season so far, so I think there's a good chance he will deliver a response on Wednesday night.

The Norway international bagged back-to-back braces when he was last on the scoresheet and he did in fact score the opening goal of the game when these two teams met at the Amex Stadium all the way back in August.

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