Albion Make Six Changes for Manchester City Return

Hürzeler Makes Six Changes

Brighton and Hove Albion head coach Fabian Hürzeler has made six changes to the side for today's Premier League encounter with Manchester City at the Etihad. This will be the second meeting between the two clubs in four days, following Wednesday's League Cup fourth round tie that City won 4-3 on penalties after the match ended 2-2.

Defensive Reshuffle

Club captain Lewis Dunk returns to the Albion defence and will line up alongside Luke Vuskovic, Olivier Boscagli and Joao Costinho. Bart Verbruggen starts in goal as the Seagulls make changes to their back line following the midweek cup defeat.

Attacking Adjustments

Charalampos Kostoulas has been selected up front for the Premier League fixture. The midfield includes Pascal Gross, Diego Gomez, Maxim De Cuyper, Yasin Ayari and Chema Andres. All four of Gross, Gomez, Andres and Boscagli have been recognised for their long-range shooting this season, with Gomez scoring a 50-yard effort in the 5-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Brighton will be hoping to bounce back from Wednesday's penalty shootout defeat, though they will face Manchester City with top scorer Erling Haaland back in the squad after missing the League Cup tie.

Hürzeler's Message

Following the cup defeat, Hürzeler said: "You can take something from every performance. In certain elements of Wednesday's game, we missed a little bit of luck.

"But we'll take plenty of positives away. I think my players did everything to win this game but that's football.

"It's great to have another opportunity to do that on Saturday here in Manchester. We know it is a different game, competition, atmosphere and there will be different players on the pitch from both sides. But in the end, our approach won't change."

The head coach added that positive individual performances should give his players confidence, noting that "if players improve, the whole team improves".

Kickoff is at 3pm today.

Source: read the full story