Football Bet of the Day: Seagulls can swoop

Manchester City will aim to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing 2-0 Etihad defeat to Tottenham when the Citizens travel to the south coast to take on Brighton.

The Seagulls have started the campaign with a 1-1 draw against Fulham and a 2-0 defeat at Everton and Fabian Hurzeler’s men will be hoping to get their first win on the board in front of a home Amex crowd on Sunday.

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Manchester City will be hoping to return to their best and challenge for the Premier League title this season, but it’s difficult to see where the improvement will come from for the Citizens.

Pep Guardiola is used to his side bossing the transfer market, and while City have been active this summer, they no longer have a speed dial on Europe’s top talent.

Kevin de Bruyne, who for so long has been the driving force on the blue side of Manchester, departed in the summer and that has left a huge gap in creativity.

Ederson is out-of-favour in goal, which appears to have unsettled a shaky City defence and Rodri has yet to return to his peak following a long-term injury.

Guardiola’s men were torn apart by Tottenham last weekend and Spurs hardly worked wonders for that form after registering only one shot on target and losing 1-0 at home to Bournemouth on Saturday.

City fielded a back five of James Trafford, Rico Lewis, Ruben Dias, John Stones and Rayan Ait-Nouri against Tottenham last weekend, and without the midfield protection of Rodri, that defence isn’t good enough to stand up to the stronger Premier League sides.

Brighton beat the Citizens 2-1 at the Amex last season and also grabbed a 2-2 draw in the return fixture at the Etihad.

Brighton to beat Manchester City @ 5/2

The south coast side only finished 10 points off City in last term’s Premier League standings and it’s likely we will see a similar level of performance from Fabian Hurzeler’s side time around.

Brighton are still searching for their first top-flight victory of the season but this is a team which lost only three Premier League games at their Amex base last term and they should put up a good show when City come to town.

Hurzeler changed his entire starting 11 for Wednesday night’s 6-0 League Cup success at Oxford, which not only serves to keep his team fresh for the visitor of City, but also demonstrates the strength and depth of Brighton’s squad.

Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma and Carlos Baleba provide plenty of pace and energy, which has proved City’s kryptonite of late, and Brighton look excellent value to take three points on the south coast.

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Football Bet Of The Day from Betfred Insights.