“City” come to the match after two consecutive draws in the championship – with Sunderland and Chelsea. The draw with the Londoners was particularly painful, when the team dominated most of the match, but conceded the decisive goal in stoppage time. Because of these points losses, Manchester City is already six points behind the leader Arsenal and has practically no right to make a mistake, hoping for a mistake from the “gunners”. At the same time, personnel problems in the defense became another painful blow for Pep Guardiola.

Despite this, statistics play on the side of Guardiola’s wards. Manchester City have won 22 consecutive Premier League games going into Wednesday and are also unbeaten at home to Brighton in 15 head-to-head meetings. Special attention is traditionally drawn to Erling Holland: the Norwegian has not scored in three rounds in a row, but he has never before been without goals in four starting matches of the championship in a row. Today it may happen for the first time.

Brighton come to Manchester in good spirits after a convincing 2-0 win over Burnley that ended their six-match winless streak. Fabian Hürzeler’s team occupies a place in the middle of the tournament table and in the event of a sensational success, they can equal the points with the fifth position. Yes, the density of this season is simply impressive — even the 14th step can jump to the European Cup zone in one round.

However, the away form of the “Martins” raises questions – in the last three away matches of the Premier League, the team conceded at least two goals. However, Brighton have good experience against City this season, with a 2-1 home win in August, giving them confidence ahead of the visit to the Etihad. Quick flanks and standards involving Lewis Dunk can be particularly dangerous.