The newly-crowned champions head to the Amex Stadium on the back of a 12-game winning streak and the boss has refreshed his line-up with one more Premier League match to go before we end the campaign with back-to-back finals in the FA Cup and Champions League.
John Stones, Rodrigo, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland all come back into the starting line-up against the Seagulls.
Teams
BRIGHTON XI: Steele, Van Hecke, Colwill, Caicedo, Estupinan, Gross, Gilmour, Enciso, Buonanotte, Mitoma, Welbeck.
Subs: McGill, Ayari, Webster, Dunk, Mac Allister, Undav, Ferguson, Veltman, Peupion.
CITY XI: Ortega Moreno, Walker, Stones, Rodrigo, Lewis, Gundogan (C), De Bruyne, Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden, Haaland.
Subs: Ederson, Phillips, Alvarez, Gomez, Charles, O’Reilly, Palmer, Robertson, Knight.
TACTICS
Guardiola has refreshed his starters again after making nine changes for our final game of the season at the Etihad against Chelsea.
Stefan Ortega Moreno keeps his place in goal and the City boss has options about who can play in front of him.
Guardiola could have Kyle Walker as right full-back with Rico Lewis on the left either side of Stones and Rodrigo.
Alternatively, Bernardo could revert to left back with Rodrigo pushing forward alongside captain Gundogan.
The front three looks likely to be Haaland either side of Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez on either flank.
We also have a youthful bench which includes EDS captain Shea Charles and Under-18s skipper Nico O’Reilly.
Maintain the momentum
City were crowned champions for the third season in a row following our victory over Chelsea on Sunday.
But the season is a long way from over with an FA Cup final against Manchester United and Champions League final with Inter to finish the season.
In his press conference ahead of the game, Guardiola said it was important to “maintain our tone” in our final two matches with Brentford away on Sunday.
“We cannot play like we have won [the Premier League],” he said. “Against these two teams, if we aren’t ready we will suffer a lot. And after it would be a problem.”
Brighton have had an impressive season having secured European football for the first time in the Club’s history and a point would guarantee a place in the Europa League.
STAT ZONE
Erling Haaland is two goals away from matching Tommy Johnson league goals record for City and three from beating it.
Brighton have lost 10 of their 11 Premier League games against City, with the exception being a 3-2 home win in May 2021.
City have never failed to score in a Premier League game against Brighton, netting 33 goals in their 11 meetings for an average of three per game.
Brighton have won their final home league game in each of the last two campaigns, including a 3-2 win over City in 2020-21. They last did so in three consecutive seasons between 1990-91 and 1992-93.
City have won each of their last 25 Premier League games on a Wednesday by an aggregate scoreline of 68-11. It’s the longest winning run any side has had on a specific day in the competition’s history.
There have been 15 instances of a team winning 12 consecutive games in English top-flight history, with Pep Guardiola’s City side accounting for five of those runs (including their current run of 12). They last enjoyed a longer winning run in the Premier League between December 2020 – March 2021 (15).
Since Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge of Brighton in October, their Premier League games have seen more goals than any other club’s (104 – 59 for, 45 against). Indeed, only Man City (70) and Arsenal (66) have scored more top-flight goals than De Zerbi’s side in this time (59).
Phil Foden has scored in all four of his Premier League starts against Brighton, being involved in six goals in total in these four matches (5 goals, 1 assist).
