Paul Merson has shared his prediction for Manchester City’s next Premier League match.
Their previous game saw the Citizens beat Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley Stadium in the semi-final of the FA Cup.
Now though, Pep Guardiola’s side are preparing to return to Premier League action as they will be travelling to the south coast to take on Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday.
Ahead of this game, one pundit and former top-flight player shared his thoughts on the current state of both teams and which side will come out victorious.
Merson drops Man City prediction for Brighton clash
In his latest column for Sportskeeda where he previewed and predicted the scores for this midweek round of Premier League fixtures, Merson had this to say about City’s match against the Seagulls.
He said: “By the time Man City play, they could be four points being Arsenal and Liverpool, so they will be under immense pressure to win their games in hand.
“In my opinion, City have to be careful as they are a bit knackered after a bunch of gruelling games across all competitions.
“Teams are also starting to get around Rodri a little bit, but I doubt Brighton will cause them too many problems.
“They are not the team they were last season and are very much a middle-of-the-table team this time around, so I think City will get the job done. Brighton 1-3 Man City.”
Will Man City beat Brighton?
Back in October, when the two sides met at the Etihad Stadium, City won 2-1 thanks to goals from Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland.
With only six games left to play in the campaign, the Blues find themselves seven places and 29 points above Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
Bearing in mind how the South Coast club finished last season in sixth place but currently find themselves in 10th position, this backs up Merson’s point about Brighton not being as good as they were last term.
Despite this, we feel that Thursday’s game could still be a tricky one for the title-chasing Blues and one that they will have to take all three points from to make sure they don’t lose any momentum in the race for the Premier League trophy.