Can Brighton Keep the Cup Dream Alive? Brighton vs City Match Preview

As another round of Carabao Cup football is approaching fast, attention turns to the Etihad Stadium and controversy-riddled Manchester City. They host Brighton and Hove Albion, still on the hunt for their first major silverware in the club’s history. Only 16 teams remain in the competition, and there’s a good chance that whoever wins this game will have a great chance to go all the way.

It’s been 915 days since the Albion last lost to the Citizens, in a 4-0 defeat at the AMEX. Since that day, Brighton have beaten City twice – taking their tally up to eight wins over the Manchester powerhouse since the club’s formation in 1901.

The most notable result was the most recent victory. An early Erling Haaland goal was cancelled out by a 67th minute James Milner penalty, followed by a last minute Brajan Gruda effort. Both have since left the club, but that’s not the only thing that has changed since that day.

City have recently been found guilty of 114 of their 115 Premier League financial charges, sparking controversy and allowing fans to speculate over the club’s future. A possible outcome seems to be City being hit with an enormous points deduction and fine, essentially allowing a smaller club like Brighton an opportunity to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Whether those charges have distracted City players is up for debate, losing only their third game of the season last week.

City’s season got off to a terrible start, losing 3-0 to Arsenal in the community shield. However, eight wins in a row was enough to make people forget about the abysmal performance against the Premier League champions. Two wins and two losses has bought City fans back down to earth, as they look to return to winning ways against the Albion.

The Seagulls have had a tough time with cup draws in the past 18 months, with tomorrow’s affair being the most difficult. Since the beginning of last season, Albion have had trips to EFL outfits Oxford and Barnsley – destroying them both 6-0. However, the Brighton’s most recent draws have been: Arsenal away, Manchester United away, Liverpool away, Manchester United away and Manchester City away.

Whilst it’s been put down to “the luck of the draw”, Brighton fans can feel extremely hard done by with their atrocious cup draws. The last time I personally saw Brighton play a home cup game, I was in my first year of university. I am now a third year and have since began researching for my dissertation.

Albion shouldn’t be frightened of City. Their most recent trip to Manchester was against the red side, beating United 3-2. In a thrilling comeback, Brighton came from two down to advance into the last 16 where they now face City. With that sort of enthusiasm and resilience, the sky is the limit for Brighton.

Albion’s injuries overshadow City’s massively. The Sky Blues are without right back Matheus Nunes, and winger Antoine Semenyo. These are key players, but Brighton’s injury situation is still far worse.

Albion have added Ferdi Kadioglu to the list after he limped off this weekend. He joins Mats Wieffer, Pascal Struijk, Kaoru Mitoma, Yankuba Minteh, Evan Ferguson, Femi Azeez, Stefanos Tzimas and Zadok Yohanna who all remain out of action until at least mid-November.

It’s extremely frustrating, given the Albion will have to play a familiar yet fatigued team against City. Jason Steele should line up between the sticks, further solidifying his “cup goalkeeper” title. Jaouen Hadjam and Costinha were the full backs last week against Jablonec and are expected to be starting tomorrow.

Lewis Dunk may be rested for the Premier League game at the weekend, which opens a spot for Olivier Boscagli to play alongside Luka Vuskovic. Brighton are expected to play Malick Yalcouye alongside Pascal Gross, with Jack Hinshelwood just in front of them.

Maxim De Cuyper and Diego Gomez should line up either side of Babis Kostoulas once more, surely looking to get back to scoring as soon as they can.

Ryan Adsett reported that “Enzo Maresca said in his press conference that Erling Haaland, Elliot Anderson, Ruben Dias, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Josko Gvardiol were given three days off to "recover the energy" they spent in City's defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park.”. This leads me to believe City will rotate against Brighton, fielding a slightly weaker side tomorrow evening.

Geronimo Rulli should start in goal, in front of Rayan Ait-Nouri, Mark Guehi, Abdukodir Khusanov and Rico Lewis at the back. Enzo Fernandez and Ayoub Bouaddi will likely start in the midfield, with Rayan Cherki in the 10. Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku will try to cause problems on the flanks, potentially feeding Iliman Ndiaye in the centre.

Live on Sky Sports, Albion will look to cause City some serious problems tomorrow evening. It’s one that Seagulls fans can look forward to – and potentially cause an upset.