Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed why Ederson didn’t start against Brighton & Hove Albion.
In City’s first Premier League game back in action since the end of the latest international break, the Manchester club beat Roberto De Zerbi’s side 2-1 thanks to goals from Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland.
However, questions were raised before the match had even started about one figure who didn’t find himself in the starting XI on this occasion – Ederson, which was a question that Guardiola found himself being faced with prior to kick-off.
Guardiola shares reason for Ederson being on the bench
Speaking to the media (via Sky Sports) Guardiola had this to say when asked why Ederson wasn’t in the starting XI to take on Brighton.
He said: “He could play but we decided to give him a little rest.”
Having played every minute of Premier League action for the Citizens so far this season prior to the Brighton game, it’s understandable why seeing the Brazilian on the bench this afternoon raised some eyebrows.
Although, this and the fact that the 30-year-old played the full 90 minutes in both of Brazil’s recent international matches against Venezuela and Uruguay shows why Guardiola felt the need to give Ederson a rest on this occasion.
Across his eight league games in this campaign, Ederson has faced 16 shots on target and has managed to save 11 of them, leaving him with a save percentage of 62.5%.
With Stefan Ortega Moreno stepping in for the Brazil international for the Brighton game, he failed to keep a clean sheet in his first Premier League outing of the season but did manage to make two saves throughout the game, helping his side pick up all three points.
Now that Guardiola has given the Brazilian a rest following his busy start to the season and his recent efforts on international duty, we feel that it’s likely he will be back in goal once again sooner rather than later.
