Manchester City set to welcome players back for Brighton game
Enzo Maresca says that almost all of his senior players are available for selection as Manchester City prepare to face Brighton for the second time in the space of a few days.
Antoine Semenyo is still sidelined through a knee injury and it was confirmed before City’s Champions League match against AEK Athens last week that he would be out of action for eight weeks.
The Spaniard will have the rest of his squad at his disposal, with Iliman Ndiaye and Matheus Nunes in line to return after not playing in Wednesday’s clash.
Maresca said that Semenyo was in a “good mood, doing his recovery sessions and all the therapy sessions that he needs, but it is still too early [to return]”.
Erling Haaland, Elliot Anderson, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Gianluigi Donnarumma had all been left out of Wednesday’s squad as City squeezed past Brighton on penalties to reach the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup, but will return to action at the Etihad.
Maresca was full of praise for his side’s next opponents and their young manager, Fabian Hurzeler, especially in regards to their aggressive attack, which has made them the top scorers so far this season.
“They’re doing very good, on the ball and off the ball. They are very aggressive, man-to-man oriented in all the games. They attack very good with so many players – full-backs, wingers, attacking midfielders – so it is going to be a tough game.”
He declined to back them as Champions League contenders, despite their impressive start to the season, affirming that it was “too early” to say.
“It is a team that in any game they score many goals – three, four, five goals. They create many chances against any team. It is going to be a tough game but where they can be at the end of the season, I don’t know,” he added.
Despite resting key players in the week, Maresca was adamant that he could only work “game-to-game” as City follow up their Brighton rematch with two away trips: first to Germany to face Leipzig on Wednesday night before travelling down to Nottingham on Saturday evening.
“In one week three games, we’ve already played many games but the main thing is now go focus on tomorrow’s game and when we finish we think about the next one,” he added.
