The final day of the Premier League season is here and Manchester City will look to make it back to back titles as they travel to face Brighton!
With 1 game to go now, the defending champions are just one win away from securing their 2nd title in a row as Manchester City are currently 1 point above title rivals Liverpool so either matching or bettering the Liverpool result means City are champions.
Brighton are 17th in the table and are safely clear of relegation as they’re 5 points clear of Cardiff, however don’t expect them to just lay down here as we saw last week when they travelled to the Emirates and put in a very good shift against Arsenal despite already having secured safety. Brighton will definitely be up for it in their last home game of the season.
Man City are on a sensational run of form entering this weekend. In 2019 overall they won 27 of 29 games across all competitions. Man City have won 13 straight Premier League games thoroughly dominating everyone on their way to the top again. It is hard to see them blowing the title now considering how well they’ve been playing.
Man City have been known for their explosive attack play this whole season, however defensively is where they have been VERY impressive in the recent stretch. During this 13 game win streak in the league they’ve kept 10 clean sheets and conceded just 3 goals!
Brighton themselves are winless in 9 consecutive games, however after losing 5 in a row they have been performing better in their last 4 despite not winning any of their last 4 games they picked up 3 draws, 2 of them being very impressive away draws at two top 7 clubs in Wolves and Arsenal they also drew with in form Newcastle while also giving Spurs a very tough game away from home losing 1-0 by conceding an 88th min goal.
Brighton have been nightmarish in front of goal during this stretch though scoring just 2 goals in last 9 apps but have improved defensively conceding just 2 in last 4 despite playing some seriously good opponents.
Man City have yet again been a very good away side this season, 2nd best record though with a win could be tied best. They’ve dropped more pts away than home which is natural, but they’ve only dropped 15 pts on their travels this season with a 13W 2D 3L record while scoring the tied most with 34 and conceding the least goals on their travels with 10. Man City have done well against the bottom 10 sides away winning 8 of 9 games picking up 24 of 27 pts only losing to Newcastle. City have won each of their last 6 away games while conceding just 1 goal and keeping 5 clean sheets as well.
Brighton have been a decent home team overall this season, however most of their success at home came in the first half of the season. Brighton have picked up 23 points at home this season, but only 5 of those were picked up in 2019 only winning 1 home game from 8 losing 5 of them since the Calendar year turned in the Premier League. Brighton have lost 3 of 5 games (1W D) against the big 6 this season though they have been a testy side to play against as their losses to Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs all came by 1 goal while they beat Man Utd and drew with Arsenal here so it hasn’t exactly been an easy place to come and win for big sides this year.
Duo of Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling are players to watch for City. Top 2 scorers this season for City in the league with Aguero scoring 20 and Sterling scoring 17 and they’re 2 of the top 3 assist men with Sterling providing 10 and Aguero providing 8 assists this season. These two have been great all season and given that City will need to get goals here, expect either one if not both to step up and get the job done for the league leaders.
As for Brighton, Glenn Murray is the man to watch. He’s been fantastic for them this season again with 12 goals really being the only consistent goal getter all season for them scoring 35.3% of their total league goals. Murray got on the scoresheet last week away at Arsenal.
Brighton and Man City have faced off 4 times since the start of last season and City won all 4 meetings though Brighton have been able to keep the score down in all of them putting up respectable fights losing these games 3-1, 0-2 (only meeting at the Amex), 2-0 and 1-0. This season these sides met twice and City won both 2-0 at home in the league and then beat Brighton last month in the FA Cup Semi Final 1-0 in what Brighton definitely made a very tough game for Man City.
Man City are HUGE favourites to win this game offered at 1.18 with Brighton to win being a long shot 19.00 and Draw tipped at 8.25. It really is hard to see Man City blowing the title on the last day given their form throughout the whole of 2019. City have experience of closing the title race on last day before in 2012 and 2014 so this is nothing new to them. We’ve seem them deal with pressure many times over the years, especially this year during this recent stretch. Brighton could make it testy with their physical, strong defensive play but holding Man City off for 90 minutes looks an impossible task. Expect the visitors to make it back to back titles here. The odds are based on Unibet.
Team News
Brighton: Davy Propper and Jose Izquiredo are both out for the hosts who otherwise have everyone else available.
Manchester City: Mendy, Bravo and Fernandinho are all sidelined for the champions. However, Kevin de Bruyne could return and be involved for the last game.
Betting Stats
Brighton have covered 38.9% of their total goal overs at home in the league this season (7-1-10).
Brighton have covered 38.9% of their total 1st half goal overs at home in the league this season (7-4-7).
Brighton average 1.89 bookings per game at home in the league this season (34 bookings in 18 games).
Glenn Murray is Brighton’s top scorer at home this season with 7 home league goals.
Brighton have covered 44.4% of their Handicaps at home in the league this season (8-3-7).
Brighton have covered 33.3% of their 1st half Handicaps at home in the league this season (6-4-8).
Man City have covered just 22.2% of their total goal overs away from home this season which is worst in the BPL (4-2-12).
Man City have covered 27.8% of their total 1st half goal overs away from home in the league this season (5-13).
Man City average 1.61 bookings per game away from home in the BPL this season (29 bookings in 18 games).
Man City have 5 tied top scorers away from home in the BPL this season in Aguero, Sterling, Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and Sane who all have 5 away goals each this season in the BPL.
Man City have covered 50% of their Handicaps away from home in the league this season (9-1-8).
Man City have covered 61.1% of their 1st half Handicaps away from home in the league this season (11-1-6).
KICK OFF – 12th May 2019 – 3pm UK Time
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