Brighton v Manchester City: Premier League – live | Premier League
Key events
Brighton make four changes to the team that started the 3-1 victory over Southampton. Danny Welbeck, Billy Gilmour, Facundo Buonanotte and Jan Paul van Hecke replace Joel Veltman, Lewis Dunk, Alexis Mac Allister and Evan Ferguson.
Manchester City meanwhile welcome back all the big guns, after giving them a rest for the Chelsea game. Stefan Ortega, Rico Lewis, Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden are the only players to keep their places in the starting XI.
The teams
Brighton & Hove Albion: Steele, Caicedo, Van Hecke, Colwill, Estupinan, Gross, Gilmour, Buonanotte, Enciso, Mitoma, Welbeck.
Subs: McGill, Webster, Dunk, Mac Allister, Undav, Ayari, Ferguson, Veltman, Peupion.
Manchester City: Ortega, Walker, Stones, Lewis, Rodri, Gundogan, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Silva, Foden, Haaland.
Subs: Ederson, Phillips, Alvarez, Gomez, Charles, O’Reilly, Palmer, Robertson, Knight.
🔵 TEAM NEWS 🐝
XI | Ortega Moreno, Walker, Stones, Rodrigo, Lewis, Gundogan (C), De Bruyne, Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden, Haaland
SUBS | Ederson, Phillips, Alvarez, Gomez, Charles, O’Reilly, Palmer, Robertson, Knight#ManCity | @HaysWorldwide pic.twitter.com/OtVP1IhkyW
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 24, 2023
Preamble
Let’s be honest with ourselves: there’s not a whole lot riding on this game. Manchester City are already champions, so their minds are almost certainly 99 percent fixated on their two upcoming finals, stages two and three of The Treble. And while it’s true that Brighton need one more point to categorically confirm their participation in next year’s Europa League, they’ve got such a superior goal difference over the only team that can still mathematically catch them, Aston Villa, that things would have to get seriously trippy for them to fail to hang onto sixth spot, even if they lose both of their remaining matches.
Then again, Brighton are still able to pip Liverpool for fifth, so there’s that. Meanwhile eagle-eyed observers may have spotted that Pep Guardiola has instilled a winning mentality at Manchester City, and momentum could prove priceless going into those aforementioned finals, so there’s that as well. Two fine footballing sides unencumbered by jeopardy but still with an eye on a greater prize: what’s not to love? Kick off at the Amex is at 8pm BST. It’s on!