Manchester City hopes to bounce back at home against Brighton after suffering their first defeat of the season at the hands of Liverpool at Anfield a week ago.
A Joao Cancelo error led to the only goal of the game scored by Mohamed Salah in a closely fought encounter while Brighton picked up another disappointing result after a goalless draw against last-placed Nottingham Forest.
MCI vs BHA Match Details
Date: Saturday, 22 October 2022
Time: 15:00 (BST) / 19:30 (IST)
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
MCI vs BHA Match Preview
Manchester City’s game against Liverpool was bound to be fiery but this time with more controversies on and off the pitch. Starting with Jurgen Klopp’s pre-match pressure about City’s finance claimed as xenophobic by the club to a section of their fans making chants on the stadium disasters involving the deaths of the Liverpool supporters to coins thrown at Pep Guardiola and later missiles thrown at Manchester City bus. All that added by the VAR disallowing Phil Foden’s goal for a foul on Fabinho by Erling Haaland in the build-up to it having not been spotted by the officials initially and then the mistake by Cancelo for Salah’s winner kept this game in everyone’s memory for one reason or the other. The result meant Man City’s 21 games unbeaten run in the Premier League is over and this was their first away loss in the league for over a year. It was a hard pill to swallow for the Cityzens aware of the poor start Liverpool had this Premier League season coming into this game with a 14 points gap and the loss now gives league leaders Arsenal a lead of four points at the top of the table. City welcomes Brighton at home to turn things around while the Gunners make a trip to St Mary’s facing lowly Southampton. Erling Haaland, for only the second time this season, found it null in front of goal with goalkeeper Alisson equal to his efforts managed a few times he escaped the stern markings of Joe Gomez or Virgil Van Dijk. His moment of involvement in Phil Foden’s supposed opener by taking the ball out of Alisson’s clutches was also dismissed by VAR for a foul committed by the Norwegian in the buildup. The 22-year-old will be desperate to get back to scoring with more favorable opponents coming his way as City don’t face a top-six team in the league until the break for the World Cup. They will also cheer on the fact that they have only lost once in the ten meetings with Seagulls and have taken full points each time in this meeting at the Etihad Stadium.
It has been a rocky start to Roberto De Zerbi’s life in the Premier League with Brighton. Since his appointment after former manager Graham Potter’s move to Chelsea last month, the Seagulls have stopped winning and also stopped scoring. The first game for the Italian in the dugout was breathtaking with Leonardo Trossard’s remarkable hat-trick securing a 3-3 draw against Liverpool at Anfield but they have gone downhill from there. Keeping the same firing nature as Potter’s has not worked out as losses to Tottenham and Brentford followed. A more troubling 0-0 draw against bottom-placed Nottingham Forest has put early pressure on Di Zerbi considering their opposition only kept one clean sheet this season prior to this fixture. Brighton dominated the game by maintaining 71% possession and 19 shots yet not one on target. An amusing thing over the past three games with the Seagulls not scoring taking into account their attacking force and Di Zerbi’s attacking brand of football. Fans will not be happy with the proceedings, however, the manager does need time to get his players on board with his tactics after playing for so long in a fixed and robust system to bring his own legacy to the club. Searching for a goal or even a win is a mammoth task against the holders Manchester City who have not lost at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League since February and they have only managed to get on the scoresheet at this venue only once. City are also hungry to register their 10th successive win at home in the Premier League being only the second side to do so in the league history. Brighton also entered a tough run of games with their ex-coach visiting them at Amex as Chelsea’s boss next week. Roberto De Zerbi’s task is to somehow get the team scoring again if not victory in the next pair of fixtures as they will have comfort in facing lowly Wolves and Aston Villa next month at least on paper to improve themselves.
Recent Form (all competitions)
MCI: LDWWW
Recent Form (league)
MCI: LWWWD
BRI: DLLDW
MCI vs BHA Team News
Manchester City will welcome John Stones back to the fold as he returned to full team training this week after a spell out with a hamstring injury. Kyle Walker (groin) and Kalvin Phillips (shoulder) remain out with the former likely to get involved again before the end of this month. Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez are pushing for a place in the starting eleven with the Algerian scoring in the last Premier League start for City. Nathan Ake will continue at the left with Joao Cancelo starting on the opposite flank.
For Brighton, Kaoru Mitoma and Jakob Moder are ruled out with ankle and knee injuries respectively while Levi Colwill requires a late fitness test to be available before kick-off. Not many changes are expected from the goalless draw against Nottingham Forest. Leonardo Trossard will continue in the left wing-back position ahead of Pervis Estupinan with Adam Lallana in a more advance position on the pitch alongside Pascal Gross supporting loan striker Danny Welbeck.
MCI vs BHA Predicted Lineups
MCI: Ederson, Joao Cancelo, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake; De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo
Silva; Riyad Mahrez, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden
BRI: Robert Sanchez; Joel Veltman, Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster; Solly March, Mac Allister, Moises Caicedo, Leonardo Trossard; Adam Lallana, Pascal Gross; Danny Welbeck
MCI vs BHA Head to Head
Brighton’s journey to the Etihad has not been holy even with Graham Potter in the dugout with no wins and no goal scored since 2018 when Leonardo Ulloa was the last person to score in this fixture for the Seagulls, then managed by Chris Hughton, at this venue. Manchester City have managed to score 13 goals in those meetings and also a 1-0 win in a FA Cup tie in 2019. The last game in the league was played in April when Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva all scored in the second half to wrap up a convincing 3-0 win.
MCI vs BHA Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Ederson (6.5)
DEF: Cancelo (8.5), Akanji (8.5), Dunk (8), Webster (8)
MID: De Bruyne (9), B Silva (8.5), Mac Allister (9), Trossard (9)
FW: Foden (9) Haaland (9)
Vice-captain: Phil Foden
Captain: Erling Haaland
Stay tuned to Fantasy Football for upcoming matches.
