Man City v Brighton

Manchester City vs Brighton Preview

Manchester City stumbled to a third league defeat in five games in the English top flight last weekend when Pep Guardiola's side were dealt a disappointing 1-0 loss away from home at Nottingham Forest, leaving The Citizens in fifth place in the table and barely holding onto the last of the European spots ahead of this weekend's action.

Brighton by contrast collected a fourth league win on the trot in the domestic top flight last weekend with a 2-1 home win against Fulham which has helped lift The Seagulls up into seventh place and just three points shy of fourth placed Chelsea and a possible Champions League spot.

Recent losses to the likes of Arsenal 5-1, Liverpool 2-0 and Nottingham Forest 1-0 have resulted in Manchester City dropping out of the top four pack and the Champions League spots but although they have home advantage at the Etihad stadium on Saturday afternoon, recent results suggest this carries no guarantees for the hosts.

Despite producing an encouraging start to this season's Premier League campaign which saw Pep Guardiola's side putting together a solid looking nine-match unbeaten sequence including picking up seven wins in the process, Manchester City have since stumbled on uncertain ground in the domestic top flight.

Indeed, the bigger picture shows City have registered just a further seven league wins from their subsequent 19 matches in the top flight, slipping to nine defeats, but the goals market appeals here as City have been scoring but conceding in equal measure of late.

Brighton will be eyeing off a fifth straight win in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon as the south coast outfit make their way up to Manchester for this upcoming clash at the Etihad Stadium following recent wins gained over the likes of Chelsea, Southampton, Bournemouth and Fulham respectively.

Fabian Hürzeler's side have made themselves a tough side to beat from just before Christmas to date as The Seagulls have slipped to just two defeats from their last 12 matches overall in the Premier League, those losses being handed out to them by Everton and Nottingham Forest, the latter being a humiliating 7-0 defeat at the City Ground.

However, Brighton have responded in impressive fashion in recent weeks and the visitors look to at least have a decent chance of hitting the back of the net at the Etihad Stadium this Saturday especially as Fabian Hürzeler's side have lost just once in their last seven outings on the road along with scoring in 14 of their last 15 away games.

Manchester City v Brighton Verdict

Goals look likely here as five out of the last eight meetings have resulted in Over 2.5 goals along with both teams scoring as well.

Therefore, our main bet will be Over 2.5 goals and BTTS Yes @ 1.72

Other side bets worth considering:

Manchester City win & BTTS Yes @ 2.87

Correct Score: Manchester City 3-2 @ 21.00