Match Preview: Brighton v Manchester City
The eyes of the world will be on the Amex Stadium as Brighton have the opportunity to stop Manchester City winning the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola’s multi millionaire team need to match Liverpool’s result with Wolverhampton Wanderers if they are to become the first side in a decade to retain the title. If the Albion do the unthinkable and either draw or beat City and Liverpool defeat Wolves, the championship goes to Anfield.
Which is a pretty horrific thought. Our dealings so far this year with Liverpool fans have seen a coachload of them invade a Brighton pub hosting a private party after our game at the Amex in January. And then decide to try and start threatening Albion fans with unprovoked violence. In a private party. Violence. In a private party. Classic Liverpool self-entitlement.
They hurled all kinds of fantastic abuse at us via Twitter when we dared to suggest that the Reds get quite a few close decisions go their way after Mo Salah was blown over by a slight breeze during that game in Sussex. Classic Liverpool defensiveness.
Then there’s the classy “Munich 1958” graffiti that we clocked adorning a wall during our FA Cup visit to Anfield in 2012, ironically no more than 200 metres from the Hillsborough Memorial. Classic Liverpool hypocrisy.
Oh, and Jurgen Klopp is a bit of a twat too, isn’t he? When he’s not blaming the weather for his team losing (classic Liverpool “it’s not my fault” attitude), he’s swearing live on television to make a post match interview all about him. When his side have just brilliantly overturned a three-goal deficit against Barcelona in the Champions League. Compare that to Mauricio Pochetino who cried in front of the cameras after Tottenham Hotspur’s victory against Ajax and dedicated it all to his players and club.
It says a lot about how much Liverpool are disliked that a club funded by oil money from a murderous regime winning the title seems a much better proposition than it going to Anfield, but that’s where we are at in 21st century English football. Anyway, on with the match preview.
Who are Manchester City?
Ah yes, speaking of that oil money from a murderous regime, City were a reasonably sized English club right up until 2008. They enjoyed periods of success such as winning two championships and four FA Cups before their petrodollars arrived and they also sunk as low as the third tier, enjoying a season of local derbies with Macclesfield Town. All that changed however when the Abu Dhabi United Group purchased City for £210m. Since then, their loaded owners have pumped in an amount of cash that exceeds even Shane Duffy’s bar bill at Molly Malone’s, delivering three league titles, one FA Cup and four League Cups although in spite of their vast wealth and resources, City are still yet to deliver on the European stage.
What are they like now?
They’re probably one of the finest teams ever to grace the British game. City tore up the record books last season, winning the Premier League with more points, goals and wins than any other team had managed before. They’ve had an equally impressive campaign this time around so it says much for how good Liverpool are as well that the title race has gone down to the final day. Win at the Amex, and City will be two-thirds of the way to becoming the first ever English club to complete the domestic treble. Lose and follow that up with defeat against Watford in the FA Cup Final in a weeks time, and they could end the season with just a Carabao Cup to show for their efforts.
Which players should we be worried about?
If City turn up and play as they can do, all of them. Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, David Silva, Leroy Sane, Kevin De Bruyne – the list is pretty much endless. When we last met at Wembley six weeks ago and they weren’t at their best, the Albion gave them problems. Had we been a little more clinical from set pieces, we might have even taken the tie into extra time. Guardiola and his charges surely won’t underestimate us again, especially with so much on the line this time around.
What’s the Albion’s record like against Manchester City?
There have been just 21 meetings between Brighton and Manchester City but something noteworthy always seems to happen, whether it be managers being sacked, ball boys being sacked, Brighton shocking the richest team in the world or Guardiola wearing a pair of fascinating cream trousers. The Albion have won just four times against City with five draws and 12 defeats.
What’s a good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Manchester City at home?
City had only just been injected with their Abu Dhabi petrodollars when they came to Withdean in the second round of the League Cup in 2008. Four days earlier, they’d been busy wiping the floor with Portsmouth with a 6-1 Premier League win whilst the Albion had been losing 1-0 to nine-man Walsall. Naturally, Brighton went onto win the tie on penalties, pulling off one of the greatest shocks in the competition’s history. Perhaps even better than the result was the pitch invasion which followed, especially with regards the person in the electric wheelchair who made it from the south east corner, nearly to the halfway line before they were turned around and wheeled off by a mean-spirited steward.
What’s a bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Manchester City at home?
The sacking of 41-year-old chief ball boy Keith Cuss in 1989 for heading a ball into the West Stand remains a real stain on the club’s character. City boss Mel Machin was furious with Keith, believing him to have deliberately time wasted with the Albion leading 2-1 with just two minutes to play. The Sunday papers meanwhile lapped up this tale of a 41-year-old ball boy employing the dark arts down at the Goldstone Ground. As a result, Keith had to go.
Who’s played for both sides?
City supporters seem to enjoy labeling their young players as being the next someone or other. And normally, it’s complete bollocks. We know that from first hand experience. In the 2011-12 season, they loaned us “the next Yaya Toure” in Adbul Razak and “the Israeli Messi” in Gai Assulin. Razak had one good game against Ipswich Town but then Gus Poyet must have forgotten it was his birthday or something as he was terrible after that. Assulin meanwhile was just dire.
Other than football, what is Manchester famous for?
One of the best things about staying in the Premier League for next season is that we get two trips to Manchester, as it ranks as arguably the best place in the country for pubs. It gave the world Oasis with the Gallagher brothers being huge City fans and has also shown remarkable tenacity to come through some pretty devastating terrorist attacks such as when the IRA blew up the city centre and a suicide bomber attacked an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena.
Where’s the betting value for Brighton v Manchester City?
Brighton have faced Manchester City in three games that have mattered since winning promotion to the top flight, and they’ve failed to score in all of them. This must be about the eighth game in a row we’ve advised it, but again look at all the Seagulls not to score markets, with a City clean sheet at 4/5, both teams to score no at 31/40 and under 2.5 goals – we’re likely to keep it very tight – at 2/1.
Prediction
A 2-0 win to City and the Premier League title being paraded around the Amex.
