Manchester City will be looking to secure another crucial three points tonight when they take on Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League. City booked their spot in the FA Cup final at the weekend with a 1-0 win over Chelsea in the semi-final, a fantastic response after their Champions League exit against Real Madrid. With City not playing in the league over the weekend, Pep Guardiola’s side now has two games in hand on leaders Arsenal, with the Gunners four points ahead after winning their last two games. Next up for City is a trip to Brighton, and the Seagulls are not in the greatest form at the moment, with Roberto De Zerbi’s side winning just four of their last 17 league games. City won the meeting between the two sides earlier this season 2-1, with Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland grabbing the goals. Haaland has been ruled out of tonight’s game through injury, but John Stones and Phil Foden have both been declared ready by Guardiola.
Can City win what looks to be a pivotal game in the Premier League title race? Let’s take a look.
We simulated Brighton vs Manchester City to get a score prediction
To complete this simulation, we used EA FC 24 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions. We predict that Brighton could line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with their starting XI as follows: Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Igor; Gross, Baleba; Adingra, Moder, Pedro; Welbeck. We predict that City could set up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their lineup as follows: Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Foden, De Bruyne; Silva, Alvarez, Grealish.
City were dominant from the off on the south coast, with Alvarez coming close in the opening two minutes when his driven shot from just inside the box flashed past the post. The early warning was a sign of what was to come from City, and the domination paid off after 11 minutes when Kevin De Bruyne made it 1-0. As Brighton attempted to push forward, a turnover in possession saw De Bruyne win back the ball in the Seagulls half, exchange passes with Alvarez and fire into the top corner from the edge of the box. Guardiola’s side didn’t allow the hosts a single shot in the first half, and they started the second half perfectly when Rodri grabbed City’s second.
A powerful strike from Jack Grealish on the left almost caught out the Brighton ‘keeper at his near post, with Bart Verbruggen making a good stop and pushing the ball behind for a corner. De Bruyne sent a deep cross into the box from the resulting set piece, and Rodri met the ball at the back post with a towering header to make it 2-0. Moments later, Rodri grabbed his second of the game in fantastic style, with a loose ball falling to the Spaniard on the edge of the box before he thumped his strike into the bottom corner.
At 3-0, Brighton had lost all hope of getting anything from the match, and the game began to turn into a battering in the 74th minute when Bernardo Silva got on the scoresheet.
City camped around the box as they patiently waited for a breakthrough, and De Bruyne picked out a smart run from Kyle Walker to set off alarm bells in the Brighton defence. Walker’s cross was deflected off the defender towards the ‘keeper and the ball ricocheted off Verbruggen’s chest to the feet of Silva, who prodded home from a few yards out. A fantastic City display was topped off with a fifth and final goal in the 89th minute when Foden was pulled down inside the box. The Englishman stepped up to take the spot-kick, chipping his penalty down the middle to make it 5-0 and wrap up the three points in style.
EA FC 24 predicted final score: Brighton 0-5 Manchester City
What do you think the final score will be? Let us know in the comments!
