Manchester City vs Brighton: The starting lineups are in ahead of tonight’s Carabao Cup tie

Manchester City and Brighton have confirmed their starting lineups ahead of tonight’s fourth round Carabao Cup tie at the Etihad Stadium. The Carabao Cup holders face a tough test against a Brighton side that have begun the 2026-27 season in impressive fashion. Tonight’s match has the potential to be a pulsating affair given the attacking football that Enzo Maresca and Fabian Hurzeler like their teams to play.

It is expected that Enzo Maresca will heavily rotate his squad for tonight’s match. Antoine Semenyo is ruled out of tonight’s match due to a knee injury. Matheus Nunes and Iliman Ndiaye are also in doubt for tonight’s match. Nunes has missed City’s past two matches and his presence was missed by Manchester City in their 2-1 loss to Aston Villa. Iliman Ndiaye suffered cramp against Aston Villa and it remains to be seen whether or not he will be given a night off tonight.

Erling Haaland, Josko Gvardiol, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Ruben Dias and Elliot Anderson were all given some time off after Manchester City’s loss to Aston Villa. It is extremely doubtful that any of those players will start or feature in tonight’s match. Manchester City take on Brighton at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday and it is expected that Enzo Maresca will put out his full-strength squad for that match.

Here are the starting lineups for both teams for tonight’s fourth round Carabao Cup tie at the Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City.

Enzo Maresca has rung the changes for tonight’s match. Gerónimo Rulli starts in goal. At the back, Vitor Reis starts alongside Marc Guehi at centre-back. Rico Lewis and Nico O’Reilly start in the full-back positions. Ayyoub Bouaddi and Mateo Kovacic anchor Manchester City’s midfield. Rayan Cherki, Phil Foden, Allan and Floyd Samba will be Manchester City’s attacking threat tonight.

Matheus Nunes is not included in Manchester City’s squad for tonight’s match. This will be the third game he has now missed. Nunes picked up an injury in City’s 3-2 win over Ipswich Town.

Starting lineup: Gerónimo Rulli, Rico Lewis, Vitor Reis, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Mateo Kovacic, Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki, Allan, Floyd Samba.

Substitutes: Bettinelli, Ndiaye, Doku, Fernández, Aït-Nouri, Khusanov, McAidoo, Braithwaite, Oliver.

Brighton.