City look to close gap on Arsenal with a must-win Brighton test

Manchester City welcomes Brighton & Hove Albion to the Etihad Stadium for round 21 of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign on Wednesday night.

City were dealt with a late title blow in Sunday’s 1-1 stalemate with managerless Chelsea, which increased the gap at the summit to six points.

Brighton snapped their winless run with a 2-0 victory over Burnley last time out.

Match preview

Man City have never lost in 15 home league games against Brighton (W12 D3), which is both the most they’ve faced a side without ever losing at home and the most Brighton have played anyone on the road without ever winning.

Brighton are unbeaten in their last three Premier League games against Man City (W2 D1), having avoided defeat in just two of their first 14 against them in the competition (W1 D1 L12).

City have scored in all 17 of their Premier League games against Brighton, their joint-best 100% scoring record against an opponent along with Bournemouth.

The Citizens have drawn both of their last two Premier League games; in Pep Guardiola’s managerial career, only in April 2017 and December 2023 has he ever drawn three successive league matches.

The Seagulls have shipped two goals in each of their last three away Premier League matches, last having a longer run of conceding 2+ goals between August and November 2022 (5).

Erling Haaland has scored in each of his last four Premier League games against Brighton, though City have failed to win any of the last three (D1 L2).

However, Haaland has failed to score in each of his last three Premier League games. In his top-flight career, he has never had four successive starts without scoring.

Brighton’s Danny Welbeck has scored seven goals in his last 13 away Premier League appearances, although he’s never scored in nine league matches at the Etihad.

Team news

Manchester City

Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias limped off with injuries against Chelsea, and the defensive duo could be out for a few weeks.

The pair join John Stones, Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb, Nico Gonzalez and Savinho on the absentees list.

While Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri are away on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer could return to the squad, but Solly March, Adam Webster and Stefanos Tzimas are sidelined with injuries.

Carlos Baleba is away with Cameroon at the AFCON.

Predicted line-ups

Manchester City: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nathan Aké, Nico O’Reilly, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland.

Brighton & Hove Albion: Bart Verbruggen, Joël Veltman, Jan Paul van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, Ferdi Kadioglu, Yasin Ayari, Diego Gómez, Brajan Gruda, Georginio Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma, Charalampos Kostoulas.