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Man City v Brighton predictions: free betting tips and where to watch

Blunt Brighton unlikely to breach solid Citizens

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola
Manchester City boss Pep GuardiolaCredit: Alex Caparros / Getty

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Manchester City v Brighton in the Premier League on Wednesday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 6pm Wednesday

Best bet

Man City win to nil
1pt 5-6 Paddy Power
Add this to your Paddy Power betslip

Team news

Manchester City
Eric Garcia and Ferran Torres have not featured since testing positive for Covid-19 and Sergio Aguero is self-isolating. Ederson could return but Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake remain sidelined.

Brighton
Tariq Lamptey, Aaron Connolly (both hamstring), Danny Welbeck (knee) and Adam Lallana (illness) are sidelined. Yves Bissouma is suspended but Steven Alzate is back in contention. Alireza Jahanbakhsh must pass a late fitness test.

Match preview

Manchester City have posted six successive victories for the first time since their 2018-19 title-winning campaign and they should collect another three points and a clean sheet against relegation-threatened Brighton at the Etihad.

Pep Guardiola's side rose to fifth, their highest position of the season, after their 3-1 success at Chelsea on January 3 but they will only have eyes for top spot and are clear market leaders in the title betting.

In the build-up to City's match at Stamford Bridge there was a lot of talk about their struggles away to their fellow big-six sides.

However, Guardiola's side were convincing winners and they followed up with a 2-0 victory away to Manchester United in the EFL Cup semi-finals.

Having showcased their big-match credentials, City face a run of games against lesser opposition which could see them take a firm grip on the title race.

Five of their next six games are against teams in the bottom eight and the exception – a home meeting against Aston Villa – is also a game they would fully expect to win.

It is perfectly possible that City's winning sequence could be extended from six to 12, setting them up perfectly for huge February encounters away to Liverpool and at home to Tottenham.

In such a strange season it can be hazardous to look too far ahead but Guardiola is usually excellent at keeping players focused on one game at a time and his squad is getting ever stronger with key players recovering from injury and illness.

Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus made their first appearances since positive Covid-19 tests in Saturday's 3-0 success at home to Birmingham and Ederson was an unused substitute.

An expected start for Sergio Aguero failed to materialise as the 32-year-old was required to self-isolate, but City have had more good news than bad in recent days and their confidence is on the rise.

Few teams would want to face the Citizens and Brighton's task was made harder when they were taken to extra-time in Sunday night's FA Cup third-round tie at Newport which they won 4-3 on spot-kicks.

Brighton's reserve goalkeeper Jason Steele was the hero in the shootout, saving four of seven Newport penalties, but several first-team regulars were also involved in a tough, energy-sapping encounter.

Graham Potter will be asking a lot of the same players to attempt to halt a run of eight league games without a victory which has seen Albion slide to within three points of the relegation zone.

There is no shortage of composure to Brighton's play but they look at risk of dropping into the Championship and their problems may increase against City, who should make it seven wins from seven with the minimum of fuss.

Key stat

Manchester City have kept clean sheets in ten of their last 13 matches.


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