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Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Saturday 31 October, 3pm
Three days after Brighton were beaten by Manchester City on penalties in the Carabao Cup, the two sides meet once again at the Etihad on Saturday with Premier League points at stake and the hosts, level with Arsenal on 21 points, looking to bounce back from a first top-flight defeat.
Fabian Hurzeler's third-placed side arrive with the league's highest-scoring attack on 23 goals, but they lost at Liverpool prior to their cup defeat, and have six senior players still missing.
Manchester City vs Brighton: Form and Preview
Recording six straight wins to open his Premier League reign moved Maresca level with Pep Guardiola's best-ever start by a City manager, and another against Ipswich Town made him the only head coach in the division's history to triumph in his first seven matches, before Aston Villa ended that run with a 2-1 beating in Birmingham.
That loss has not shifted the Sky Blues from the Premier League's summit, where they sit on 21 points from eight games, level with Arsenal but ahead on goal difference after racking up 20 goals and conceding nine.
The Citizens have also proven imperfect in the Champions League of late, with Paris Saint-Germain winning 4-2 at the Etihad on October 14 before City hit back with a 5-1 victory over AEK Athens six days later.
Erling Haaland remains the team's spearhead, though Rayan Cherki, Josko Gvardiol, Phil Foden, Marc Guehi and Enzo Fernandez have all chipped in with goals of their own at the Etihad this season.
City have won all four of their home league matches so far, averaging 2.75 goals scored per game, but the same stretch has produced only one clean sheet in four on their own turf, a detail that leaves the hosts looking considerably more solid going forward than they do at the back.
Maresca rested five regular starters for Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie, and the changes showed in a slow build-up that left City trailing twice before they scraped through on penalties.
Maresca admitted afterwards that City could have defended better, and considering that they have conceded in each of their last five matches across all competitions, letting in 11 goals in total, it is difficult to argue against the idea.
Brighton's own campaign has built on their success at the tail end of 2025-26, with Fabian Hurzeler guiding the club to an eighth-placed finish last term and delivering an exceptional start to 2026-27, earning his second Premier League Manager of the Month award in September.
That September haul, a 1-1 draw with Leeds before a 5-0 away win at Coventry City and a 3-0 home win over reigning champions Arsenal, lifted Brighton to third, where they still sit despite last weekend's 2-0 defeat at Anfield.
Brighton's position in the table does not tell the full story either, given that their goal difference of plus 16 from eight games outranks Man City's plus 11, thanks to a combination of the third-best defensive record in the division, with seven goals conceded all season, and the division's most potent attack.
All of that has come while Hurzeler has been missing key personnel throughout, with six players unavailable at the Etihad, a run of misfortune that makes the Seagulls' numbers and their position above both Liverpool and Chelsea all the more striking.
However, Brighton's away form is more mixed than their home record, with one win, one draw and two defeats from their last four on the road, as well as an average of one goal scored per match coupled with one conceded.
Hurzeler felt his side had enough chances to win on Wednesday, and misses from Yasin Ayari and Lewis Dunk in the shootout sent Brighton out of the Carabao Cup, a disappointing end to a match that the Seagulls had led twice.
Team News and Predicted Lineups: Manchester City vs Brighton
Manchester City Team News
Semenyo's absence is the only gap in an otherwise fully fit City squad, with the Ghana international not due back until mid-December.
Maresca has said that everyone is available apart from Semenyo, which means Matheus Nunes is fit to start at right-back, with Rico Lewis the alternative in that role.
Further forward, Jeremy Doku and Iliman Ndiaye are expected to flank Rayan Cherki behind Haaland, with Phil Foden also ready to feature from the bench.
Manchester City predicted lineup vs Brighton
Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol; Fernandez, Anderson; Ndiaye, Cherki, Doku; Haaland
Brighton Team News
Brighton's injury list remains long, with six players unavailable and two more, Kadioglu and Chema, doubtful with hip problems, though Costinha and Malick Yalcouye are ready to step in for them if needed.
Hurzeler has nonetheless kept his side performing while missing several of those names, with Charalampos Kostoulas and Diego Gomez picking up the attacking slack in the absence of Kaoru Mitoma.
Maxim De Cuyper is expected to start on the left of the attacking three, with Olivier Boscagli at left-back, while Yasin Ayari and Pascal Gross, the latter September's Player of the Month, continue in the middle of the park.
Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer both made substitute apperances on Wednesday after lengthy layoffs, and are in line for more minutes off the bench this weekend.
Brighton predicted lineup vs Manchester City
Verbruggen; Kadioglu, Dunk, Vuskovic, Boscagli; Gross, Chema; De Cuyper, Ayari, Gomez; Kostoulas
Head-to-head: Manchester City vs Brighton
Manchester City hold a commanding all-time advantage over Brighton across 37 competitive meetings, winning 22 to Brighton's eight with seven draws.
The Citizens have won five of the last ten meetings to Brighton's two, though the Seagulls came out on top in their last two showdowns at the Amex and have not lost to the Mancunians in 90 minutes since a 4-0 defeat in April 2024.
Brighton came close to earning a first triumph at the Etihad on Wednesday, but City squeezed past Brighton on penalties in the Carabao Cup's fourth round after Mateo Kovacic and Vitor Reis cancelled out goals from Malick Yalcouye and Georginio Rutter, dragging Maresca's side level before the shootout.
However, that cup tie serves as context rather than hard evidence for Saturday, given that the Citizens rested five regulars, while Hurzeler has called the rematch a chance to take revenge.
Our Manchester City vs Brighton Prediction and Betting Tips
Odds correct as of Thursday, 29 October 2026, 15:30 GMT.
- Goalscorers: Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki (Man City); Charalampos Kostoulas (Brighton)
- Brighton's lengthy injury list, with six players unavailable, could be a key factor in City's favour
- The Citizens have won all four of their home league games this season, averaging 2.75 goals per match
Anthony is an avid Liverpool fan that covers football and the World Cup on TNT Sports. A few seasons deep into his work writing for a number of sites such as Sports Mole and Football Ground Guide, he regularly previews upcoming clashes and pens features about the latest and greatest in the beautiful game. Anthony is looking forward to writing about how the Reds continue to spend the Coutinho money.