Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the English Premier League match.
Last season Brighton did not lose to Manchester City. Right now the squad is 18th and can only dream of putting up a fight against one of the title contenders. Or perhaps the team was simply unlucky with the fixture list.
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton let a home win slip against Fulham in the dying seconds (1:1), having been pinned back. Then by the hour mark they were 0:2 down to Everton. Creativity has dropped without last season’s standout João Pedro, while the hierarchy also moved on Simon Adingra and Evan Ferguson — the Irishman departed on loan. These were depth options, yet the young striker, for instance, is impressing at AS Roma. It is obvious that a 6:0 thrashing of Oxford United in the EFL Cup is no barometer before facing Manchester City.
Manchester City
Manchester City are not perfect at present and remain in transition after a raft of signings. It is easy to score when the opponent is clear relegation candidates Wolverhampton Wanderers (4:0), and it is entirely different when the opponent is Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur forced Manchester City players into errors (0:2). A mistake by James Trafford in the second dangerous situation proved decisive. But were Manchester City good in attack? Yes; it was simply that Guglielmo Vicario produced several superb saves, even though Omar Marmoush posted 0.65 xG.
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Manchester City Prediction
On this basis we now lean towards Manchester City being much closer to the win, so we are backing them with a 0 handicap. Ideally Manchester City would replace James Trafford with Ederson Moraes, but even with the Englishman the visitors should be stronger.
