Manchester City vs Brighton & Hove Albion Preview

Manchester City welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening as they look to rediscover their winning touch. The hosts enter this fixture having drawn 1-1 at home to Chelsea in their most recent outing on January 4th. Prior to that, they secured a 0-0 away draw at Sunderland on January 1st and claimed a 2-1 away victory at Nottingham Forest on December 27th. Earlier in this sequence, they defeated West Ham United 3-0 at home on December 20th and beat Brentford 2-0 at home in the Carabao Cup on December 17th. With three wins and two draws from their last five matches, City remain unbeaten and will be confident of extending that run against the visitors.

Brighton arrive at the Etihad buoyed by their most recent result, a 2-0 home victory over Burnley on January 3rd. In their previous outing, they secured a 2-2 away draw at West Ham on December 30th, showing resilience to claim a point on the road. Before that, they suffered a 2-1 away defeat to Arsenal on December 27th. Earlier in this sequence, they drew 0-0 at home with Sunderland on December 20th and lost 2-0 away at Liverpool on December 13th. With just one win from their last five league matches, Brighton face a challenging task against the previous champions.

The head-to-head record is evenly balanced with two wins apiece and one draw from the last five meetings. Most recently, Brighton claimed a 2-1 home victory on August 31st, 2025. The sides drew 2-2 at the Etihad in March 2025, while Brighton also won 2-1 at home in November 2024. Manchester City won 4-0 away at the Amex in April 2024 and secured a 2-1 home victory in October 2023.

Both sides face significant injury concerns ahead of this encounter. Manchester City will be without Mateo Kovacic and have doubts over Josko Gvardiol, Rúben Dias, John Stones and Oscar Bobb. Omar Marmoush and Rayan Aït-Nouri are also unavailable. Brighton are missing Solly March, Adam Webster, Stefanos Tzimas and Carlos Baleba, with Yankuba Minteh rated doubtful. Manchester City face more severe injury problems with seven players unavailable or doubtful, significantly weakening their defensive and midfield options. Brighton are without four key players and have one doubtful, though they appear in slightly better shape than their hosts heading into this fixture.

Fans across the globe can watch this Premier League encounter across multiple platforms. In Great Britain and Ireland, Sky Sports Main Event provides live coverage with the 19:30 GMT kick-off, also available via Sky Go UK, NOW, SKY GO Extra and Sky Ultra HD. American viewers can tune in on Peacock. Spanish audiences have access through DAZN Spain, DAZN1 Spain and Movistar+. Portuguese fans can watch via DAZN2 Portugal and DAZN Portugal, while Italian supporters can follow the action on Sky Sport 253, SKY Go Italia and NOW TV.

Possible Line-Ups:

Manchester City (4-2-3-1) O’Reilly, Donnarumma, Gvardiol, Rodri, Doku, Foden, Haaland, Dias, Reijnders, Silva, Nunes

Brighton & Hove Albion (4-2-3-1) Veltman, Verbruggen, Gruda, Hecke, Gómez, Welbeck, Rutter, Ayari, Dunk, Mitoma, Kadioglu

Injured Players:

Manchester City: Mateo Kovacic (Out), Josko Gvardiol (Doubtful), Rúben Dias (Doubtful), John Stones (Doubtful), Oscar Bobb (Doubtful), Omar Marmoush (Out), Rayan Aït-Nouri (Out)

Brighton & Hove Albion: Solly March (Out), Adam Webster (Out), Stefanos Tzimas (Out), Yankuba Minteh (Doubtful), Carlos Baleba (Out)

Manchester City face more severe injury problems with seven players unavailable or doubtful, significantly weakening their defensive and midfield options. Brighton are without four key players and have one doubtful, though they appear in slightly better shape than their hosts heading into this fixture.

Manchester City Last Five Matches:

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
🤝	Manchester City	1-1	Chelsea	English Premier League	Jan 4, 2026
🤝	Sunderland	0-0	Manchester City	English Premier League	Jan 1, 2026
✅	Nottingham Forest	1-2	Manchester City	English Premier League	Dec 27, 2025
✅	Manchester City	3-0	West Ham United	English Premier League	Dec 20, 2025
✅	Manchester City	2-0	Brentford	English Carabao Cup	Dec 17, 2025

Brighton & Hove Albion Last Five Matches:

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
✅	Brighton & Hove Albion	2-0	Burnley	English Premier League	Jan 3, 2026
🤝	West Ham United	2-2	Brighton & Hove Albion	English Premier League	Dec 30, 2025
❌	Arsenal	2-1	Brighton & Hove Albion	English Premier League	Dec 27, 2025
🤝	Brighton & Hove Albion	0-0	Sunderland	English Premier League	Dec 20, 2025
❌	Liverpool	2-0	Brighton & Hove Albion	English Premier League	Dec 13, 2025

Head-to-Head Record:

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Date	Competition
Brighton & Hove Albion	2-1	Manchester City	Aug 31, 2025	English Premier League
Manchester City	2-2	Brighton & Hove Albion	Mar 15, 2025	English Premier League
Brighton & Hove Albion	2-1	Manchester City	Nov 9, 2024	English Premier League
Brighton & Hove Albion	0-4	Manchester City	Apr 25, 2024	English Premier League
Manchester City	2-1	Brighton & Hove Albion	Oct 21, 2023	English Premier League

TV Listings / Streaming:

Country	Broadcaster
Great Britain	Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Go UK, NOW, SKY GO Extra, Sky Ultra HD
USA	Peacock
Spain	DAZN Spain, DAZN1 Spain, Movistar+
Portugal	DAZN2 Portugal, DAZN Portugal
Italy	Sky Sport 253, SKY Go Italia, NOW TV
Ireland Republic	Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Go UK, NOW, SKY GO Extra, Sky Ultra HD
Germany	Sky Sport 1/HD, Sky Go, WOW
Austria	Sky Sport 1/HD, Sky Go Austria
Canada	DAZN Canada, fuboTV Canada, Fubo Sports Network 7 Canada