Saturday Premier League Cup Preview and Odds – Brighton & Hove Albion FC vs Manchester City

August 12, 2017 17:30pm

The American Express Community Stadium

Recent form (All competitions)

Brighton & Hove Albion FC: LDDWW

Manchester City: WWWLW

After an absence of 25 years, Brighton and Hove Albion will mark their return to top flight football by taking on the pre-season title favourites Manchester City at The American Express Community Stadium on Saturday evening.

The South Coast club has moved home three times and been to the brink of extinction since they last played in the top tier. Having sunk all the way to the bottom of the league ladder, the Seagulls are now soaring again, with a brand new stadium and an experienced Premier League manager at the helm.

Chris Hughton will attempt to keep the fairy-tale alive by avoiding an instant drop back to the Championship but he knows full well the size of the challenge that lies ahead. They will start their campaign against a side who have also emerged from many years in the darkness and now stand tall as one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

A host of new signings have arrived at the American Express Stadium including Steven Alzate, Izzy Brown, Pascal Gross, Jose Izquierdo, Josh Kerr, Ales Mateju, Matthias Norman, Davy Propper, Matthew Ryan and Markus Suttner. Of those, Propper and Ryan are perhaps the standout appointments. Despite their investment in the playing squad, Brighton remain amongst favourites for the drop.

Big-spending Manchester City have strengthened their back line with the signing of Kyle Walker, Danilo and Benjamin Mendy and in total, the club has parted with close to £200m as they look to bag a first Premier League title under Pep Guardiola.

The Citizens had an impressive pre-season campaign in which they defeated Real Madrid, Spurs and West Ham, although they did slip up against bitter rivals Manchester United.

Prediction

City will be looking to hit the ground running and Brighton may have to weather a storm of attacking play during this match. The Manchester club are not shy in going forward and this should make for an entertaining clash with a decent goal count.

Back Over 2.5 Goals at 4/6 with Betfair.

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