PREDICTED LINEUP - BRIGHTON VS MANCHESTER CITY - RUMOURED INJURIES FOR CITY SEES 5 KEY PLAYERS OUT

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Manchester City face high flying Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium, with this match coming 3 days after the Blues lifted their 7th Premier League title in front of a packed Etihad Stadium.

City will have priorities lying elsewhere, as they chase an historic treble with upcoming finals against Manchester United and Inter Milan in the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League respectively.

Brighton, meanwhile, have a fight on their hands to try and claim a place in the Europa League for next season, as their place in the less prestigious Europa Conference League has been guaranteed already.

The Seagulls will be delighted to be playing European football next season for the first time in their history, and manager Roberto de Zerbi seems to have pushed them onto even further heights than they achieved under previous manager Graham Potter.

Albion have recruited and developed many top class talents, such as Moises Caicedo, Karou Mitoma, Alexis MacAllister, Evan Ferguson and Julio Enciso, with the first 3 players in particular having the quality to be an asset for most teams in Europe. These players are crucial to Brighton, but their recruitment is so good that when they inevitably get snapped up by a bigger club, they can be replaced by a player just as good, or even better.

And, according to online rumours, City will be missing 5 crucial players in Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Jack Grealish, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji, due to minor injuries.

On a more positive note, however, Guardiola described these injuries as "niggles," therefore, we don't believe they are serious enough to rule any of those players, with the possible exception of Ake, out of either the FA Cup or UEFA Champions League Final.

The Blues come into this game off the back of a 1-0 victory over Chelsea, in a game where they were able to rest the vast majority of their key players, meaning there is likely to be a sense of freshness in the squad.

However, the injuries won't have been ideal for Guardiola, as he'll have liked for Dias and Grealish in particular to gain a few minutes of valuable playing time before the two cup finals, considering the pair didn't appear against Chelsea.

Here is our predicted line up for the clash on the south coast, taking the injury rumours into consideration: Starting in goal will likely be Ederson, as Guardiola will want to balance his and Ortega-Moreno's fitness before the two cup finals, as the German will likely play the FA Cup final, and the Brazilian will play in the UEFA Champions League final.

Starting at right back should be 18 year old Rico Lewis, as a way of giving a rest to Kyle Walker. The other player who started both the Real Madrid and Chelsea matches, Manuel Akanji, is injured for this one, meaning we'll likely see John Stones and Rodri at centre back, with Sergio Gomez at left back, as Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake's fitness remains dubious.

At holding midfield, we think we will see Ilkay Gundogan, to maintain his match sharpness, with a substitution for Kalvin Phillips a possibility at around the hour mark. Ahead of him, I'd expect to see Julian Alvarez as the right sided 8, looking to support the attack with his direct forward play, and Bernardo Silva as the left sided 8, providing the composure and control. I also think we could see vice captain Kevin de Bruyne at some point in the match, to keep him sharp for the upcoming big matches.

On the right wing, Cole Palmer could well be rewarded for his excellent performance against Chelsea with another start here, this time on the opposite flank. On the left wing, expect another academy graduate in Phil Foden to start, where he'll likely have joy, as Brighton have recently operated with either Pascal Gross or Moises Caicedo, both central midfielders, at right back, something the 22 year old will be looking to exploit.

Up front, Erling Haaland, who had a rare start on the bench against Chelsea on Sunday, will most likely start again here, looking to add to his 36 Premier League goals this season.

On the bench, there are likely to be many academy graduates. We predict, therefore, a bench of Stefan Ortega-Moreno, Scott Carson, Kyle Walker, Shea Charles, Kalvin Phillips, Alex Robertson, Kevin de Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez and Carlos Borges on the bench for the Blues.

CMON CITY!!!