Early team news: Six confirmed starters for Manchester City against Brighton (Premier League)

Manchester City will look to capitalise on yet another Liverpool defeat in the Premier League by returning to top-flight action with a win of their own.

Defeat for Jurgen Klopp’s men away to city rivals Everton on Wednesday night means that should Manchester City manage to beat Brighton & Hove Albion this week, they would open up a two-point gap on Liverpool with a game in hand.

City come into their return to Premier League action fresh off the back of a crucial FA Cup semi-final win over Chelsea, and having had a two-day rest following their Wembley Stadium success too.

Pep Guardiola and his players are well aware of the situation they find themselves in, knowing that should they win all of their remaining six Premier League matches, they would be crowned top-flight champions for a record fourth successive campaign.

Erling Haaland remains sidelined for Manchester City, while his fitness problem is not understood to be too serious. John Stones, Bernardo Silva, and Phil Foden have all made themselves available following respective concerns earlier this week.

Ahead of the release of official team news from the Amex Stadium, sources on social media have started to offer insights into the selection opted for by manager Pep Guardiola, with the first details provided by Joe Bray of the Manchester Evening News.

As confirmed by Joe Bray, both John Stones and Phil Foden are present with the Manchester City matchday squad at the Amex Stadium on Thursday night, despite their respective fitness concerns earlier in the week.

As per X user and reliable team news source FplToni, both Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne start for Manchester City against Brighton, while central defensive mainstay Ruben Dias is kept out of the initial eleven.

Additional reporting from Sam Lee of The Athletic reveals that all of Bernardo Silva, Julian Alvarez, Nathan Ake, and Manuel Akanji, with the latter pair becoming the central defensive duo and the former making up two of the front three alongside Phil Foden.

Roberto De Zerbi and Pep Guardiola are expected to announce their respective Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City line-ups from around 19:00 (UK) on Thursday night.

Now confirmed.