Manchester City have just one game left to play before the November international break.
For the first time since 2018, City have lost three consecutive matches.
Starting with their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup, City then lost their first Premier League game of the season last weekend against Bournemouth with the same scoreline.
Most recently, Pep Guardiola saw his side blow a 1-0 lead in Tuesday night’s 4-1 defeat to Sporting CP in the Champions League.
Following this defeat, one pundit has now made a claim about what Guardiola may look to do in terms of his team selection for Saturday’s Premier League match against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Danny Murphy predictions team changes for Man City vs Brighton
While reviewing the defeat against Ruben Amorim’s side and looking ahead to Saturday’s match at Brighton, Danny Murphy made this claim on talkSPORT (6/11 10:39) about what changes Guardiola will make to his team for their upcoming showdown on the south coast.
He said: “The bench last night was a positive when you think who was on that. You had [Kyle] Walker who is getting fit again, [Kevin] De Bruyne was on there, [Ilkay] Gundogan was on there, [Nathan] Ake was on there.
“I think we’ll see them all at the weekend.
“It’s a big four games coming up for them, they’ve got Brighton, Spurs, Feyenoord and Liverpool. That’s not easy, they’re tough fixtures.
“I think they’ll go to Brighton at the weekend and beat them. I think they’ll all have a kick up the backside. He’ll put De Bruyne back in, he’ll put Walker back in, he’ll put Ake back in, he’ll put Gundogan back in.
“Because they were all on the bench last night to get back with the squad even if they’re not 100% he’ll put them in. What the best players do and the best managers do is they respond.”
Guardiola said City were emotionally unstable against Sporting
Out of the four players Murphy mentioned as being on City’s bench against Sporting, two of them made it onto the pitch as Ilkay Gundogan replaced Bernardo Silva in the 77th minute and Kevin De Bruyne made his return from injury just seven minutes after the German’s introduction.
After Tuesday night’s European clash, Guardiola addressed City’s defeat to Sporting by saying this about what he saw from his side.
He said: “The first half was really, really good. From my point of view, we scored a goal, and created a lot. But every pass, simple things, we miss sometimes.
“They can run, and they punished us a little bit. It can happen. After the third and the fourth, we have to avoid it.
“Emotionally we were not stable enough and [in] this competition you have to be stable.
“2-1 is 2-1. Many minutes to happen, but we cannot give away the two actions for the third and fourth goal, we have to be emotionally more and more stable.”
Even though Guardiola was pleased with his side’s first-half display in Portugal, the fact that they capitulated in the second half and couldn’t keep their emotions in check could result in changes being made to the team for the Brighton match.
Also, with the Blues still having a busy injury list, this will also play a part in how the 53-year-old decides his starting XI for Saturday’s match on the south coast.
