Match Preview: Fans back to the Amex for Brighton v Man City
Brighton v Man City is a rare Premier League match preview were what happens on the pitch is secondary to goings on off it. For the first time since February 2020, there will be a decent-sized crowd inside the Amex as 7,900 Albion fans can attend the visit of Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions.
We may still be some way from a full house of 30,000 cheering on the Seagulls, but it is still a step towards normality. Anyone who watched Leicester City’s thrilling FA Cup win over Chelsea at the weekend will have seen the difference that even a quarter-full stadium can make. The United Kingdom appears to finally be getting back to normal.
So, what can we expect? Probably not a first home victory in front of fans since Plucky Little Bournemouth were vanquished 2-0 in December 2019, but who cares about that?
Hearing Sussex by the Sea for the first time. Singing the Yves Bissouma song. That first shout of “FOR **** SAKE WEBSTER” from the bloke behind. An overpriced, warm, flat pint. Having to re-mortgage your home to afford a bag of Starbust. Yes, even confectionary costing the GDP of a developing African nation is something to look forward to.
Manchester City this season
For the third time in the past four seasons, Manchester City have lifted the Premier League title as the Great Abu Dhabi Sportswashing Project shows no sign of abating.
You would have got long odds on this being the case back in the autumn. City sat as low as 11th at one point in time; when the Albion went to the Etihad Stadium in January they were only sixth.
Too many draws, too many injuries and a squad that was hit hard by Covid-19 with players ruled out through isolation and matches postponed left them some way off the pace.
Since mid-December though, they have been pretty much unstoppable. 21 consecutive wins in all competitions broke all known records and that feeds into a run of form which reads 34 victories and four losses in the past 38 matches.
As well as becoming champions of England again, City also have the Carabao Cup already in the bag. They could yet lift their first Champions League title too when facing Chelsea in the final in 11 days time, which would round off a sensational season for a sensational team.
Recent form
We have just mentioned the blistering sequence of results that City have put together post-Christmas. Their past six matches have resulted in five wins and one defeat, that coming against Chelsea which points to the fact that Guardiola and his players may have a battle on their hands to become European champions in Porto.
A little hope for our Brighton v Man City preview comes in the fact that the Citizens are at least conceding goals. Newcastle hit three past them last time out and they have conceded in four of their past five Premier League matches. That means there is a good chance the 7,900 of us who are back in the Amex might have a goal to celebrate, which would be nice.
Brighton v Manchester City head-to-head
Matches between Brighton and Man City have been few and far between with just 25 previous meetings in the past 120 years. It will not come as no surprise to hear that it is the Citizens who lead the head-to-head having won 16 of those. There have been five draws and just four Albion victories.
Whilst successes have been few and far between for the Seagulls, it is still a game that has offered high-class entertainment. Two managers have lost their job after games between the clubs with Bond, John Bond sacked as City boss in 1983 following a 4-0 defeat to the Albion and Chris Hughton suffering a similar fate two seasons ago. Vincent Kompany and Brunooooooooooooo made emotional goodbyes that day too.
One ball boy has been fired, 41-year-old Keith Cuss getting his P45 for gross misconduct when Brighton gave into pressure from City, who were displeased with Keith’s famous timewasting antics at the Goldstone Ground in 1989.
Keith’s crime? Producing a textbook back header from a loose City pass which sent the ball up into the air and over the back wall of the terracing at the north end of the West Stand.
And then there was one of the biggest shocks in League Cup history when third tier Brighton knocked City out of the League Cup on penalties in 2008, shortly after Sheikh Mansour and his petrodollars turned the Citizens into the richest club in the world.
What made that outcome even more remarkable was the fact that at the weekend, Brighton had lost 1-0 at home to nine man Walsall in League One. City meanwhile had hammered Portsmouth 7-1 in the Premier League. To then go and beat City was the most Typical Brighton of Typical Brighton things.
Brighton’s head-to-head record with Manchester City
Last six meetings
• Manchester City 1-0 Brighton (Premier League, 13/01/21)
• Brighton 0-5 Manchester City (Premier League, 11/07/20)
• Manchester City 4-0 Brighton (Premier League, 31/08/19)
• Brighton 1-4 Manchester City (Premier League, 12/05/19)
• Brighton 0-1 Manchester City (FA Cup, 06/04/19)
• Manchester City 2-0 Brighton (Premier League, 29/09/18)
This part of the our Brighton v Man City preview makes for pretty grave reading. The Albion have lost all eight clashes with City since winning promotion to the Premier League so far – seven in the league, one FA Cup Semi Final – conceding 21 goals and scoring just twice.
You have to go back 10 matches to the day Brighton sacked Keith to find the last Seagulls victory in the fixture, Alan Curbishley and a superb headed own goal from Ian Brightwell giving Barry Lloyd’s Albion a 2-1 win.
Team news
Guardiola has been rotating his squad heavily in recent weeks with one eye on that date with Chelsea in Porto. That is only small comfort though as when you have spent billions of pounds on players, you can make 11 changes every week and it does not dilute the quality of the starting line up.
What such frequent chopping and changing can do however is lead to unfamiliarity combined with players who are not match sharp. Newcastle seized on this on Friday night when putting three goals past City’s third choice goalkeeper Scott Carson, who was starting a Premier League game for the first time in a decade.
There seems little point trying to guess what Guardiola will do at the Amex. Likewise, Graham Potter. He used the trip to the Etihad in January for some rotation of his own with rare starts for the likes of Bernardo and Percy Tau.
With Neal Maupay and Lewis Dunk still suspended and Joel Veltman an injury doubt, it might be nice to see some more squad players given an opportunity.
Tau in particular had an exciting cameo in the 1-1 draw with West Ham at the weekend and seeing the Lion of Judah in the starting XI would no doubt excite the supporters in attendance. In the name of Percy Tau, amen!
Manchester City’s key players
Ederson is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League. Ruben Dias has been the best defender in the Premier League this season. John Stones is currently the best English centre back around.
Kevin De Bruyne is one of the best attacking midfielders in the world. Ilkay Gundogan has 16 goals from midfield. Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick last time he came to the Amex.
Phil Foden is the hottest player under 21 on the planet right now. And Sergio Aguero is up there with the greatest strikers to have ever played in the Premier League.
Other than that, they don’t have much.
The betting value for Brighton v Manchester City
There was an interesting stat doing the round earlier in the week that Brighton are on the longest run of defeats of any club in English football which have been by a single goal.
That proves how difficult Potter has made the Albion to defeat. With scarce value to be found in the betting for this game otherwise, City to win by one goal at 11/4 represents a decent price if you are desperate to have a flutter.
An interesting subplot
There is bound to be a lot of interest in Bissouma this evening as he plays at the Amex for what would be the final time in the event that he is sold this summer, as seems likely.
The midfielder picked up an early yellow card against West Ham on Saturday, after which he seemed to be playing at less-than-full-throttle due to not wanting to miss the City game through suspension.
Nobody could blame him for that. This represents a chance for Bissouma to give Man City and Guardiola a preview of what he could bring to the Etihad in place of Fernandinho next season, should it be the Citizens who make Brighton an offer too good to turn down.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Manchester City at home
That League Cup penalty shoot out win provided one of the greatest nights Withdean ever saw. There were many abiding memories from it, but one of the best has to be the supporter who decided to join in the pitch invasion from the disabled area in the South East corner, only to be turned around and wheeled off the pitch by a mean-spirited steward after making it nearly to the halfway line.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Manchester City at home
Watching last season’s 5-0 defeat on television was a painful experience only saved by the fact that half time allowed for a quick run to Tesco Express and the purchasing of four bottles of Magners to get through the second 45 minutes with.
Oh, and it did at least mean that Plucky Little Bournemouth no longer had an outright claim to being the biggest victors at the Amex.
Manchester City’s most famous fan
Those Gallagher Brothers are pretty famous and have been aboard the City bus long before Abu Dhabi started paying for unprecedented success.
Prediction
At risk of ending this match preview on a very silly note in the event that the Albion end up getting absolutely tonked, we are going for a narrow defeat – Brighton 0-1 Man City.
