Newly-crowned champions Manchester City welcome a Brighton side buoyed by the fact they are now mathematically safe following their impressive victory over Manchester United in the Premier League (PL) last time out.
This game represents Brighton’s first-ever league visit to the Etihad stadium. Chris Hughton has expressed his joy at securing safety, but has warned his side that slacking will not be tolerated, stating: "We want to finish the season well. We didn't finish it particularly well last season after getting promotion.”
Unsurprisingly for the most comfortable PL title winners ever, Manchester City boast the strongest attack (home AND away) in the league with 58 goals scored at home to date (on average 3.2 goals per game). At home, City have taken 47 points from a possible 54, but they cannot claim the current record of home points for a PL team in one season.
Brighton, on the other hand, have the weakest away attack in the league, with just nine goals from 17 games (0.5 goals per game). Ultimately this should be one way traffic, with City still chasing 100 points and Brighton safe.
Players to watch: Raheem Sterling has had a brilliant season - scoring 18 goals and notching 11 assists. He has also bagged two goals and three assists from his last four PL starts.
Of Brighton’s nine away goals, Glenn Murray (five) and Jose Izquierdo (three) have contributed eight between them.
Stat attack: 11 of Brighton’s last 12 away games have produced under 2.5 goals. They have also failed to win any of their last 11 away games in the league.
In all competitions, Brighton have a woeful record when playing City in Manchester. The Seagulls have a record of no wins from seven attempts (D2, L5).
MANCHESTER CITY
Predicted line-up: Ederson; Danilo, Stones, Laporte, Delph; Gundogan, De Bruyne, Fernandinho; Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Sane
Unavailable: Aguero (Injured), David Silva (Personal reasons)
Doubtful: Kompany (Illness)
BRIGHTON
Predicted line-up: Ryan; Bruno Saltor, Dunk, Duffy, Bong; Knockaert, Propper, Stephens, Izquierdo; Gross; Ulloa
Unavailable: Sidwell (Injured), Brown (Injured), Skalak (Injured)
Doubtful: -
prediction brighton +2.25 correct score 0-1
