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Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and the champions Manchester City. Since their promotion under Chris Hughton in 2017, Albion have played City 13 times in league matches, winning one, drawing one and losing the other 11. Even the victory, at the fag end of the 2020-21 season, came when City had already won the title but Dan Burn’s winner at the Amex still had Sussex by the Sea raising the rafters for Graham Potter’s side as they forged ahead of Burnley to finish 16th.
That was the last season of struggle for Brighton whose upward curve took a steeper trajectory in Potter’s final season with the club and under De Zerbi until the last few months. Since City were beaten by Villa on Dec 6, they have won 13 and drawn four in the league. By contrast the Seagulls/Dolphins in the same span have won four, drawn seven and lost six. De Zerbi always gets a tune out of his players but with an injury list comprising Estupiñan, Enciso, Ferguson, Lamptey, Gilmour, Milner, March, Mitoma and Hinshelwood, it’s going to be very tough tonight particularly considering Danny Welbeck has yet to break his duck against City after 18 games for Man Utd, Arsenal, Watford and Brighton against them.
City, by contrast, have only Erling Haaland unavailable and, after Liverpool’s defeat yesterday and four days’ rest and preparation after overcoming Chelsea at Wembley, will relish the chance to go second with a victory that would put them a point behind Arsenal with a game in hand. An emphatic performance with a touch of the old swagger understandably absent in the Cup semi-final would go a long way to shorten their title chances, currently about 8/13 according to the tic-tac men, even further.
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