Manchester City start their 2017-18 premier league campaign against newly promoted side Brighton & Hove Albion in the late kickoff on Saturday, 12 August 2017 at the Amex Stadium in Brighton. Fans of both teams have been eagerly awaiting their teams opening games with City making so many changes in their squad while Brighton make their premier league debut. The game will kickoff at around 17:30 uk time and BT Sports 1 will have live coverage in the UK. While NBCSN continue their absolute top notch coverage of premier league in the US.
Match Highlights:
Manchester City has been installed as favourites to win the premier league title this year and the odds are even lower than Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge of the club. He has spent massive amount of money bringing in not 1 but three fullbacks, a creative midfielder in Bernad Silva. While some of the old guard has left the club and when City take the field on Saturday against Brighton they might very well be unrecognizable with so many changes in the summer.
Possible Starting Lineups: Guardiola is set to start with wing-backs in 5-2-3 formation with Jesus, Aguero and De Bruyne starting in three man attack while David Silva and Fernandinho to play in central midfield roles who will have the cover of wing backs in Mendy and Kyle Walker. Otamedi, Kompany and Stones to start in central defense.
Brighton on the other hand are likely to go with conventional 4-5-1 formation where Hemed to start upfront as no.9 while Gross to play in advance midfield role. This is how I expect both teams to lineup on Saturday.
Match Predictions: Hard to see City dropping points against newly promoted side but stranger things have happened in premier league. Pep Guardiola need to get his team playing not only quality football but winning games as he is under the most pressure having spent fortune since arriving last summer. With attaching threat of City all around the pitch I can only see one result here and I am going with a comfortable 3-1 win for City.