The Stats Ahead of Sunday’s Match
Manchester City travel to the south coast as they look to get their Premier League campaign back on track after last week’s defeat at home to Spurs. After pounding Wolves 4-0 on their own patch, the Blues came down to earth with a bump and Pep Guardiola will be looking for his stars to get a result in East Sussex.
They face a Brighton side that exceeded expectations last season, but have struggled to get going so far, having drawn and lost their opening two fixtures to Fulham and Everton respectively. Both sides are in need of the points and victory, if there is a victor, will provide the winner with a morale-boosting three points ahead of the international break.
The two teams have met on the south coast just 18 times previously, with half of those being in the Premier League era. The clubs have met eight time in the Premier League since Brighton were promoted in 2017 and their first ever Premier League match was against the Blues. On that occasion, Pep Guardiola’s side got their first win that would eventually lead to the Premier League title.
The next meeting between the two was a memorable one for City as they secured back-to-back league titles with a 4-1 win at the Amex Stadium on the final day of the season.
The teams first met in February 1924 in the FA Cup, a match that saw City run out 5-1 winners. They would have to wait another 55 years until they met again in Brighton, with the home side hammering the Blues 4-1.
City have won eight of their previous meeting, losing seven and drawing three. The Blues have scored 38 goals in all competitions, keeping five clean sheets and failing to score on just two occasions. Only once in league competition have City failed to score, a 0-0 draw in November 1984 being the only time both sides have drawn a blank in this fixture.
City’s biggest win away to Brighton is 5-0, which they achieved in July 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, but they also recorded a 4-0 win in April 2024. Brighton’s biggest home win over City was a 4-0 FA Cup victory in January 1983, a result that set them on their way to an FA Cup Final date with United.
City have only travelled to the south coast once in the month of August, the aforementioned 2-0 win in Guardiola’s second season in charge.
Last season, Brighton came from behind with two goals in five minutes to condemn the Blues to defeat, only their seventh loss in this fixture.
City are currently unbeaten in five away matches in the Premier League. They have scored eight goals, and the last time their defence was breached in a Premier League match was a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest in March.
Brighton are also unbeaten in five matches at home, winning three and drawing two and their last defeat at the Amex Stadium was a 3-0 loss to Aston Villa in April. Since then, they drew 2-2 with Leicester, beat West Ham 3-2, drew 1-1 with Newcastle and beat Liverpool 3-2. Their opening day 1-1 draw with Fulham means they haven’t kept a clean sheet at home since beating Chelsea 3-0 in February.
Category: General Sports
