Manchester City travel away to face Brighton
Seeking to climb back to the Premier League summit, reigning champions Manchester City travel to the American Express Stadium to face Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday night.
The two teams meet for the first time since the end of October last year when the Citizens survived a late Seagulls fightback to claim a 2-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Amidst all the uncertainty over the future of head coach Roberto De Zerbi as well as their continuous injury woes, Brighton’s form has taken a nosedive since the turn of the year and they find themselves playing catch-up in the race to secure European football for next season.
Just three wins have been posted across their 13 Premier League games of 2024 and they have failed to come out on top in any of their last four matches, most recently rescuing a point in a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Burnley just over a week ago.
With four of their remaining six league matches on home soil, Brighton will welcome a return to the Amex where they have only lost one of their last 15 fixtures in all competitions.
Manchester City, bidding to win an unprecedented fourth Premier League title in a row, have put together a club-record 42-game unbeaten run at the Etihad Stadium in all competitions, but they are now gearing up for four away league matches in their next five, including Thursday’s trip to Brighton.
The only two times that City have failed to beat the Seagulls in the Premier League have interestingly come in a midweek game at the Amex – losing 3-2 in May 2021 (on a Tuesday) and the aforementioned 1-1 draw in May 2023 (on a Wednesday).
Guardiola and co will be confident of success on Thursday, though, as they have won 17 of their last 19 midweek Premier League fixtures, while they have accumulated 19 points from a possible 21 available across their last seven away games.
As for Man City, Guardiola has confirmed that top scorer Erling Haaland will miss Thursday’s game as he continues to recover from a minor muscle issue, but both Phil Foden – who missed training on Tuesday along with Haaland – and John Stones are in contention to face Brighton.
Rotation, where possible, could be on the cards from Guardiola considering a number of his players are suffering from fatigue – Rodri recently admitted he is in need of a rest but he could be given the nod to start again in midfield, while Bernardo Silva, who has trained, stated after the FA Cup semi-final that he was “feeling his left hamstring” and “right calf” so the playmaker is set to be assessed ahead of kickoff.
Brighton have had over a week to rest and prepare for Thursday’s important fixture as they endeavour to boost their European hopes, but their depleted squad will still have a tricky task on their hands in quelling the threat of title-chasing Man City, who can ill-afford to drop points at this late stage in the season.
Goals are to be expected as the net has rippled at least three times in eight of the last 10 Premier League meetings between these two clubs, but City boast the superior head-to-head record and will be regarded as firm favourites, even without the presence of Haaland, against an out-of-sorts Seagulls outfit.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
Udinese, Roma to play remaining 18 minutes of suspended match today
Udinese and Roma will play the remaining 18 minutes of a Serie A match at the Bluenergy Stadium today. Although line-ups can change entirely, the only players unavailable will be those who had been subbed off before the suspension.
Udinese and Roma will meet at the Bluenergy Stadium tomorrow, Thursday, April 25 to play the remaining 18 minutes plus add-ons of a match that had been called off following a health scare for Evan Ndicka on April 14.
The match will resume from minute 72. Udinese will have a new coach, Fabio Cannavaro, who was appointed earlier this week to replace Gabriele Cioffi.
Both teams can entirely change their lineups and even include the players who were unavailable on April 14. Roma, for example, can rely on Sardar Azmoun, who was injured when the game was suspended.
The only players who won’t be available are those who had been substituted before the interruption. This means that Udinese’s Kingsley Ehizibue and Hassane Kamara and Roma’s Dean Huijsen and Houssem Aouar can’t be selected for the match.
Credit: football-italia.net
Liverpool to open talks with Feyenoord over manager vacancy
Liverpool are set to open talks with Feyenoord on Wednesday over manager Arne Slot as they search for Jurgen Klopp’s successor.
Klopp announced in January he would leave Anfield at the end of the season and the Reds have been conducting extensive research around a number of candidates.
Slot, who led Feyenoord to the 2022-23 Eredivisie title, has emerged as a candidate who fits Liverpool’s criteria.
Feyenoord have won the Dutch Cup this season and are second in the Eredivisie.
Slot was linked with Leeds United after they sacked manager Jesse Marsch in February 2023.
He then ruled himself out of contention for the Tottenham Hotspur job last summer before Ange Postecoglou took over.
The 45-year-old then extended his contract with Feyenoord until 2026.
If Liverpool do want to appoint Slot, they will have to negotiate a fee with Feyenoord as he does not have a release clause for this summer. There is one in his contract but it can’t be activated until next year.
At the time he was being linked with Spurs, Slot said: “The next step will not be another club in Holland. If that is the next step, I’ve failed completely in the upcoming few years.
“A normal next step would be to go abroad and I’ve always said that the best league in the world is the Premier League.”
The attacking style of Slot, who is also thought to be interesting Barcelona and Bayern Munich, and his ability to develop players are believed to appeal to Liverpool.
He became Feyenoord head coach in December 2020 after leaving AZ Alkmaar, where he enjoyed success in his first managerial position.
Xabi Alonso was linked with the Anfield job but the former Reds midfielder announced in March he would stay on at Bayer Leverkusen, who have since become German champions.
Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim is another manager heavily linked with the Liverpool job.
Credit: bbc.com
Fixtures
Brighton & Hove Albion versus Manchester City
Udinese vrs Roma
