Ederson, Oleks Zinchenko, Ruben Dias, John Stones and Riyad Mahrez also return while Ferran Torres retains his place.
Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker and Sergio Aguero are not fully fit.
Kevin De Bruyne makes a welcome return and will be on the subs’ bench.
TEAMS
City: Ederson, Zinchenko, Cancelo, Dias, Stones, Gündogan (c) Rodrigo, Bernardo, Torres, Mahrez, Foden
Subs: Steffen, Aké, Jesus, Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne, Mendy, Fernandinho, Garcia, Palmer
Brighton: To follow...
PROBABLE FORMATION
On paper (as ever), it looks as though we’ll go 4-3-3.
Torres, Mahrez and Foden look the likely front three, with Ilkay Gundogan and (possibly) Bernardo just behind and Rodrigo anchoring the midfield.
Joao Cancelo gets a rare outing at right-back, with Zinchenko on the left and Dias and Stones the central defensive pairing.
BALANCING ACT
Just two more Premier League games to go and 11 days until the Champions League final.
Pep Guardiola must keep his players hungry and sharp, while minimising the risk of losing anyone to injury.
Chelsea have two huge games before the final, during which they will have to fight tooth and nail to qualify for the Champions League, so staying sharp will not be an issue for Thomas Tuchel’s side - though that brings with it the chance of fatigue and picking up knocks.
In contrast, City play Brighton and Everton with the title wrapped up - it’s a less anxious scenario but Pep knows he will have to balance things out perfectly to arrive in Portugal in the best possible shape.
SHOP | OUR SERGIO AGUERO RANGE
STATS
City’s last league defeat against Brighton was in April 1989 in the second tier (1-2), while our last top-flight defeat against the Seagulls was in October 1981 (1-4).
Brighton have lost all seven of their Premier League meetings with City by an aggregate score of 21-2. The Seagulls have led for a grand total of 83 seconds in these games.
Since beating Crystal Palace 3-1 in December 2018, Brighton have taken just two points from their 27 available in Premier League games on a Tuesday (W0 D2 L7), with the Seagulls failing to score in each of the last four.
Since losing against Chelsea in June 2020 to hand the Premier League title to Liverpool, Manchester City have taken 37 points from 39 available in midweek Premier League games (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), winning 12 and drawing one of their 13 such matches.
Brighton have won their final home league game in just one of the last six seasons (D2 L3), doing so against Manchester United in their maiden Premier League campaign of 2017-18.
City haven’t lost their final away league game of the season since 2008-09 (1-2 vs Tottenham), winning nine and drawing two since. The Citizens have won their last four such games by an aggregate score of 11-1, including a 4-1 victory at Brighton in 2018-19.
Against Newcastle, City set a new English league record for consecutive away wins, earning their 12th win in a row on the road. Indeed, the City’s’ 12 away wins since December 19th is more than any other Premier League side has won away from home all season.
Sergio Agüero has scored in all four of his Premier League games against Brighton, netting five goals in total. In Premier League history, only Mohamed Salah has a higher 100% record of scoring in every game against an opponent (6 vs Bournemouth).
Raheem Sterling has been involved in five goals in four Premier League starts against Brighton (4 goals, 1 assist), scoring a hat-trick in this exact fixture last season.
Ferran Torres has netted five goals in his last four Premier League appearances, including a hat-trick at Newcastle last time out. The Spaniard had netted just twice in his first 18 games in the competition.
