Brighton and Hove Albion - Manchester City predictions and free betting tips [25/04/2024]

On Thursday, 25th April, within the rescheduled 29th round of the Premier League, Brighton will host Manchester City at home. The "Citizens" are battling for the championship title and simply do not have the right to stumble, whereas the "Seagulls" have not been impressive in Spring and have not known victory for four matches in a row.

Predicted Line Ups

"Brighton": Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Igor; Gross, Baleba; Adingra, Lallana, Pedro; Welbeck.
"Manchester City": Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovacic; Foden, De Bruyne, Doku; Alvarez.

Brighton

Brighton currently occupies 10th place in the Premier League table and can hardly count on finishing in the European zone: they are six points behind the seventh-placed Manchester United. In recent weeks, the "Seagulls" seem to have lost steam: they have only won one of their last 7 league matches with three draws and three defeats. Roberto De Zerbi's squad suffered a heavy loss at home against Arsenal, fighting for the title (0:3), and before that, drew 1:1 with struggling Burnley.

An autogoal, scored by Burnley keeper Muric, restored parity on the scoreboard just five minutes after Josh Brownhill had put the home side in front. However, it's important to note that the southerners have lost only one of the last 15 matches at the AMEX in all competitions – to Arsenal on 6th April. Furthermore, the blue and whites rank ninth in the overall count for points earned on home turf (27 in 15 matches, 28 goals scored, 19 conceded). 

Manchester City

The reigning English champions, Manchester City, hold their destiny in their own hands and have every chance to achieve four triumphs in a row in the Premier League. At the moment, the "Citizens" are in 3rd place in the Premier League table, with one game in hand and lagging behind the two leaders (Arsenal and Liverpool) by one point. Pep Guardiola's charges have not lost a single match in the last 17 rounds (13 wins and 4 draws), and have also achieved three consecutive victories in April: over Aston Villa (4:1), Crystal Palace (2:4), and Luton Town (5:1).

Last weekend, the sky blues had to put forth a lot of effort to beat Chelsea and reach the final of the FA Cup (1:0), and this happened after a bitter exit from the UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid – the only goal of Bernardo Silva in the dying minutes decided everything. An interesting fact: the visitors have won 17 of their last 19 midweek Premier League matches and have collected 19 points out of a possible 21 in their last seven away duels.

Head to Head

The only two times when City failed to beat Brighton in the Premier League happened to fall on mid-week encounters at AMEX (a loss of 3:2 in May 2021 and a draw 1:1 in May 2023).

Prediction for the Brighton vs Manchester City match

Brighton have had more than a week to rest and prepare for Thursday's crucial match – only a victory will allow the "Seagulls" to keep their chances of finishing in the European zone. However, it seems difficult to believe such an outcome: Man City are competing for the title and usually does not stumble at such crucial moments in the campaign. My prediction – Citizens triumph with a handicap of -1.

Over/Under Prediction

In five out of the previous six head-to-head encounters of these teams, goals were exchanged. I think the hosts are capable of breaking through the opponent's defence, worn out by the fixture, at least once.

Corner Kicks Prediction

Both teams preach an exclusively attacking style of football, and we are likely to see at least 10 corner kicks in the match.

Yellow Cards Prediction

Neither side is known for rough play, so we boldly go for a total of fewer than 4.5 bookings.

Score Prediction

I'll stake on an exact score of 1:3 in favour of "Man City".