[Albion] Brighton & Hove Albion vs Manchester City *** Official Match Thread ***

[Dick Head]

Albion v Man City

PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue: The American Express Community Stadium
Date: Wednesday 24th May 2023
Kick-off: 20:00 BST
Referee: Simon Hooper
Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Nick Hopton
Fourth Official: Graham Scott
VAR: Chris Kavanagh
Additional VAR: Gary Beswick
​

TEAM NEWS

Brighton will give newly-crowned Premier League champions Manchester City a guard of honour on Wednesday.

Adam Webster is fit enough to return as a substitute for Albion but Robert Sanchez remains out of the squad.

City defender Nathan Ake is not expected to be involved as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury.

Manager Pep Guardiola has said there are "some niggles" in the squad and he is again likely to make numerous changes to his starting XI.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• All four of Brighton & Hove Albion's wins in their 25 league matches against Manchester City have come at home.
• City have won 10 of the 11 Premier League meetings, with the exception being Brighton's 3-2 home victory in May 2021 after the visitors had already been confirmed as champions.

Albion

• Brighton require one point from their final two games to be mathematically sure of a place in next season's Europa League. Next season they will be the first English club to make their debut in European competition since Hull City in 2014.
• The Seagulls are guaranteed to record their highest top-flight finish, surpassing their previous best of ninth last season.
• Albion have equalled the club top-flight record for most home wins in a season; they also registered 10 in 1980-81.
• Brighton have lost 21 midweek Premier League fixtures since their promotion in 2017, more than any other side.
• Teenagers have scored 10 Premier League goals for the club this campaign, one more than the other 19 teams combined.
• Pascal Gross is level alongside Glenn Murray and Neal Maupay as Brighton's 26-goal all-time Premier League top scorer.

Man City

• A win would ensure Manchester City reach 90 points or more in a Premier League season for a record fourth time.
• They have earned 12 straight league victories since a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest on 18 February.
• However, City dropped points in five of their seven Premier League away fixtures this season against the other teams in the top half of the table (W2, D2, L3).
• Pep Guardiola's side have won 25 successive league matches played on a Wednesday since a 2-1 defeat at Leicester City on Boxing Day 2018.
• The Citizens can keep three consecutive Premier League clean sheets for the first time since December 2021.
• Bernardo Silva is one short of becoming the third Portuguese player to make 200 Premier League appearances, after Luis Boa Morte and Cristiano Ronaldo.
• Phil Foden has scored in all four of his Premier League starts versus Brighton.

Roberto De Zerbi's Man City Press Conference

 

[Mortdecai]

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

These are a good side

 

[Brok]

Through to the Knockout Round tonight please lads, no excuses.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

These next two games could be season-defining.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

These last two games could be season defining

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

These last two games could define our season.

 

[BN41Albion]

Lost 21 midweek games since promotion, more than any other club.
Wow - I knew we had a poor record playing midweek, but didn't realise it was that poor!

 

[Seasider78]

Hopefully grealish performance is as bad as his Chinese!

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Tonight is a case of hope for the best but fear the worst… I am sorry but I cannot see us getting anything out of this . Whatever team Pep sends out , it is still Man C , isn’t it? A terrible club but a superb team.
I really hope I am wrong.

 

[Jimmy Come Lately]

For the benefit of anyone else still slightly worried about the risk of our goal difference taking a hammering tonight and Sunday... since the resumption of football after the World Cup, only Manchester United, Fulham and, er, Charlton have kept clean sheets against us; leave out cups and it's only Fulham. And for every goal we score, the number we'd need to concede to throw away our Europa League position gets ever more record breaking.

 

[jcdenton08]

Through to the next round here lads, no excuses

 

[Biscuit Barrel]

Can't go to the game now as just tested positive for covid.

 

[Icy Gull]

Is it an over reaction to suggest that the next two results are season defining, has this been mentioned yet?

 

[Beach Hut]

So excited

 

[Dick Head]

So excited

were loose

 

[Simster]

Is it an over reaction to suggest that the next two results are season defining, has this been mentioned yet?

This gag has been done four times on this thread now, yet it's probably the first time this season that it isn't actually true!

 

[jcdenton08]

First time in a while where the objective is “don’t get thrashed”.

 

[schmunk]

Our season could be defined by these last two games.

 

[worthingseagull]

Theres going to be loads of empty seats tonight.

Every time I look at our ticket site there are more and more tickets available on the exchange and not many are selling (especially as it's a Wednesday night and the most expensive grade of game)

Also, Man City twitter is literally full of city fans trying to shift their tickets too. Obviously, the game has now become unimportant for them and I guess people are thinking the same goes for us to a lesser extent