Manchester City v Brighton preview: Chris Hughton hails 'great manager' Pep Guardiola

Brighton manager Chris Hughton has praised Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola's "huge" impact on English football ahead of their meeting on Saturday.

Champions City eased to the title in record-breaking style under Guardiola last season, scoring 106 goals and becoming the first club to amass 100 points.

Brighton boss Hughton, who takes his side to the Etihad Stadium, is full of admiration for the Spaniard's work and believes he is a major influence on other managers.

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"The great managers have - whether it's instant or they earn it (over a period of time) - a big impact generally on a division," said Hughton.

"We speak about (Arsene) Wenger many, many years ago and the impact that he had at that time; Jose (Mourinho), the impact that he's had, playing in a different way and the spirit that his teams had.

"And we've got a manager at Man City at the moment that is producing some of the best football the Premier League has seen and some of the best individual performances that we've seen, and a way of playing.

"At the moment, these type of managers guide a lot of other young, aspiring coaches on the way that they want to play, so the impact has been huge."

City won both Premier League encounters with Brighton last term, and Guardiola will hope his side can make light work of this weekend's opponents ahead of a difficult trip to Germany.

City take on Hoffenheim on Tuesday, and Guardiola is expected to rotate his starting line-up again as he seeks to kick-start his side's Champions League campaign following their opening-night loss to Lyon.

The Catalan will be focused on making a fast start against the Seagulls and Phil Foden will be hopeful of more minutes after scoring his first senior goal in the 3-0 Carabao Cup win at Oxford United.

Foden may have to make do with a place on the substitutes' bench, however, with David Silva expected to return after being rested last week in the 5-0 win at Cardiff City.

Team news

City remain without Benjamin Mendy, with the Frenchman suffering from a metatarsal injury.

Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo (Achilles) and Kevin De Bruyne (knee) are long-term absentees while Guardiola will have to decide on who to rotate in his side ahead of the trip to face Hoffenheim next week.

Dale Stephens and Pascal Gross will miss Brighton's trip to Manchester.

Stephens suffered a hamstring injury in Saturday's defeat to Tottenham, while fellow midfielder Gross remains sidelined with an ankle problem.

Colombia winger Jose Izquierdo is closer to his first appearance of the season after playing 45 minutes of an under-23 game on Monday.

Opta stats

• Brighton have never won an away game against Man City in all competitions, losing six of their eight visits (D2).
• Manchester City have won 58 of a possible 63 points from their last 21 Premier League home games (W19 D1 L1).
• Brighton have won just two of their last 15 Premier League games, with both of those coming against Manchester United (D5 L8).
• Away from home, Brighton are winless in 16 Premier League games (D5 L11), scoring just seven goals in that run.
• Manchester City are unbeaten in their last 32 Premier League games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday - only Chelsea (33 between February 2006 and February 2009) have ever had a longer unbeaten run in that kick-off slot.
• Brighton's Glenn Murray is the highest scoring English player so far in the 2018-19 Premier League (4 goals).
• Brighton's Anthony Knockaert (2 assists for Duffy) and Shane Duffy (1 assist for Knockaert) have combined for three Premier League goals so far this season, more than any other duo in the competition.

Merson's prediction

The problem with Man City is they've put themselves in a positon now where they've got a big Champions League game in midweek. If they had beaten Lyon at home, it's a different game but they've probably got to go to Hoffenheim and win now.

He might rest a couple of players for this game. If he wasn't resting anyone, I'd just see it as a big test going to Hoffenheim next week.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (6/1 with Sky Bet)

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