The master will take on his apprentice at the Etihad Stadium this Saturday as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City welcome Roberto De Zerbi’s upstart Brighton side.
As two managers driving the Premier League forward in their possession-based style and pushing their teams to greater heights than have ever previously been reached, Guardiola and De Zerbi have perhaps the safest jobs in England.
Security will be the last thing on their minds, however, in a contest where the losers could lose touch with early Premier League pacesetters Tottenham and Arsenal.
Observers may say it is the best possible time to play City following consecutive league defeats before the international break, and a fascinating tussle should unfold as a result.
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Team News
Seven-time Premier League winners City had almost all their squad strewn across the globe on international duty last week, increasing the workload on a stretched side.
Ederson and Julián Álvarez started both World Cup qualifiers for Brazil and Argentina respectively, while in Euro 2024 qualifiers, Nathan Aké, Rúben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Joško Gvardiol, Mateo Kovačić, Rodri and Erling Haaland played the vast majority of minutes for their countries.
Bernardo Silva, Oscar Bobb and Jérémy Doku also played bit-part roles for their nations.
Importantly, City’s English contingent was heavily rotated, with John Stones making his return from injury and Kalvin Phillips given valuable minutes against Australia and Italy, while Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden also played roughly 90 minutes across both games.
Most encouraging for Guardiola was that his squad suffered no injuries from the games, which after the loss of Kevin De Bruyne for a long spell will be of great value.
De Bruyne remains sidelined until around the end of 2023, but others have ably filled his role in the meantime and it will be between Alvarez, Foden, Grealish and Bobb to step into the number 10 position against the Seagulls.
Rodri, meanwhile, has served his three-match suspension and returns to domestic action this gameweek.
While many Seagulls players were selected for international honours, the two big wins of this break were the withdrawals of Kaoru Mitoma and Tariq Lamptey.
Both players have been busy of late, with Mitoma playing the second-most minutes of any Brighton player this season, while Lamptey had his return to fitness accelerated to cover the absence of Pervis Estupiñán.
Commitments with Japan and Ghana would have required long-distance travel for friendly matches, so Brighton would have agreed with both national associations for their players to miss out.
However, in his Friday press conference, De Zerbi stated that Lamptey would miss out on the City match with an unspecified injury, leaving a gaping hole at left-back.
During the last week, Bart Verbruggen made his senior international debut for The Netherlands, Simon Adingra played 33 minutes for Cote d’Ivoire, Pascal Gross and Billy Gilmour played both matches for their countries, Ansu Fati played a half for Spain and Evan Ferguson scored once in two appearances for Ireland.
Lewis Dunk also earned Man of the Match plaudits as England defeated Australia at Wembley, adding to his stock on the international scene.
No injuries were collected from these involvements, while there was positive news as well regarding Jakub Moder, who De Zerbi confirmed had ‘started to work with the group.’
Moder will be unavailable for this meeting, while Julio Enciso remains out until around Christmas time with a serious meniscus injury.
Otherwise, De Zerbi has a full-strength squad to choose from, with the contract-extending Mitoma, Gross and previous injury concerns James Milner and Igor Julio all available.
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Likely Lineups
Ederson; Walker, Dias, Aké, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovačić; Foden, Álvarez, Doku; Haaland
Steele; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, March; Gross, Gilmour; Lallana, Pedro, Mitoma; Ferguson
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Key Players
Man City: Jérémy Doku
Very few widemen have been able to get joy against Brighton this season, but Doku offers something different to those that came before him.
The Belgian is electric with the ball at his feet and is enamoured with one-on-one situations, using his pace and trickery to get past either full-back.
He has hit the ground running since joining from Rennes just a week before the summer transfer window closed, with his first goal coming against West Ham a little over a fortnight later.
Expectations will grow the longer Doku remains in the starting XI, but the 21-year-old seems to be handling it perfectly so far.
It is, however, uncertain how events in Brussels this week, where Doku was an unused substitute in the abandoned Euro 2024 qualifier against Sweden, will have affected those present.
Doku is not a certain starter as a result, but if he is involved, expect a big impact.
Brighton: João Pedro
It remains difficult to guess De Zerbi’s selections in attack this season, so none of the front four predicted here are certainties to emerge from the Etihad tunnel.
However, one of the best bets would be Pedro, who has silenced any doubters with his nerveless late penalty in Marseille plus goals against AEK Athens and Manchester United.
The Seagulls are a far more fluid and positive side when the Brazilian is involved, and his partnership with Evan Ferguson has been blossoming of late.
In a recent interview, however, De Zerbi insisted there was more work for Pedro to do.
“João Pedro can play better and better. He’s a good guy and I want to help him to reach one level higher,” said the Italian.
“He can play better with his teammates, he can play better in our style, he can improve to become a complete player. He has incredible potential and I want everything from him.
“I am strong with him. I am strong with a young player when I understand the potential, so I push. We are fighting together so that we reach one level higher.”
All this suggests a key role for Pedro this season, and going up against the likes of Rodri, Nathan Aké and Rúben Dias will be another incredible test for the young Brazilian to savour.
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Match Details
Where is the game being played?
The meeting takes place at the Etihad Stadium, where Brighton have lost all six of their previous Premier League visits by an aggregate score of 16 goals to two.
What time is kick-off?
Kick-off is at 3 PM (BST) in Manchester, one of five Premier League matches starting at that time on Saturday 21 October.
How can I watch?
British broadcast restrictions mean that the match cannot be shown live to UK residents, although highlights will form part of Match of the Day, which is set to be broadcast at 10:30 PM (BST) on BBC One.
The BBC will also offer live radio coverage of the game on Radio 5 Live.
