Manchester City are back in Premier League action this weekend ahead of the November international break.
Their previous league outing saw City not only lose their first match of the season, but it also saw the Manchester club lose to Bournemouth for the first time in their history.
Prior to that 2-1 defeat, Pep Guardiola’s side were knocked out of the Carabao Cup to Tottenham Hotspur.
More recently, the Blues suffered their first Champions League defeat of the season with a disappointing 4-1 loss to Ruben Amorim’s Sporting CP side on Tuesday night.
With City losing three games in a row for the first time since 2018, they will not want to make it four on Saturday when they take on Brighton & Hove Albion.
Looking ahead to this big game, let’s take a look at what the starting XI could look like for the Citizens.
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Man City predicted starting XI for Brighton clash
In goal, despite conceding four goals – including two penalties – in midweek, it still seems likely that Ederson will keep his place in the starting XI this time around.
At left-back, even though he had a night to forget against Sporting where he gave a penalty away, Jokso Gvardiol could be given the chance to put things right against the Seagulls.
For the two centre-back positions, with John Stones and Ruben Dias injured, Manuel Akanji will likely keep his place in the team.
Then instead of keeping Jahmai Simpson-Pusey in the team, Guardiola could turn to Nathan Ake on this occasion, despite calling Simpson-Pusey “incredible” for his performance against Sporting.
Moving on to the midfielder, Rico Lewis will potentially be in the starting XI once again after being left out against Bournemouth for the first time since the 2-2 draw against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in September.
For the two other midfield positions, Guardiola could freshen things up by putting Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne in the starting XI after their second-half cameos in Portugal.
The Belgian, who City paid £54m to sign back in 2015, could now be fit enough to start after his lengthy spell out injured.
Finally, while Erling Haaland is arguably the most likely player to be in the starting XI, he could well be flanked by Savinho and Jeremy Doku to cause Brighton as many problems as possible.
Predicted Man City XI vs Brighton: Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol, Lewis, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Savinho, Doku, Haaland.
