Confirmed Line-Ups: Manchester City vs Brighton and Hove Albion (Premier League)

Confirmed Line-Ups: Manchester City vs Brighton and Hove Albion (Premier League) Gianluigi Donnarumma is back in net for Manchester City against Brighton. The holders drew 2-2 with Fabian Hürzeler's side on Wednesday night, with Mateo Kovacic cancelling out Malick Yalcouyé's opener before Vitor Reis deflected a Rayan Cherki free-kick past Jason Steele to level the score again after Georginio Rutter had restored Brighton's lead. Geronimo Rulli saved two penalties in the shootout and Cherki scored the decisive spot-kick, sending Enzo Maresca's side through to a home tie against Bradford City in the next round of the competition. Manchester City remain top of the Premier League, though the 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa last Saturday ended their seven-match winning run and allowed Arsenal to draw level on points, whilst Brighton sit third with the division's best attack of 23 goals. The fixture comes against the backdrop of an independent commission's guilty verdict on 114 of 115 charges, with the club lodging a comprehensive appeal at 7pm on 1 October and the sanctions phase of the case yet to begin. Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Elliot Anderson and Gianluigi Donnarumma all return after being given three days off following the trip to Villa Park, having missed the cup tie as Maresca rotated his side for the first of the two meetings. Matheus Nunes and Iliman Ndiaye were both left out of the squad on Wednesday, but Maresca confirmed on Friday that his whole squad is available apart from Antoine Semenyo, who is still recovering from a knee injury and is expected back in December. Maresca also insisted that no player is undroppable when asked about Donnarumma, describing the Italy international's recent dip in form as a normal process after he was partly at fault for both goals at Villa Park. Haaland has scored nine goals in eight Premier League appearances this season, with six of those coming from headers, including the equaliser against Villa that briefly brought Manchester City level last weekend. Brighton are expected to be without Kaoru Mitoma, Evan Ferguson, Stefanos Tzimas and Zadok Yohanna, whilst Pascal Struijk, Femi Azeez, Ferdi Kadioglu and Chema Andres face late fitness assessments ahead of the trip to Manchester. City have never lost at home to Brighton in 18 meetings, although the Blues have not beaten the Seagulls inside 90 minutes in their last five meetings since a 4-0 win at the Amex Stadium in May 2024. Starting XI: Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol; Bouaddi, Anderson; Fernandez, Ndiaye, Doku, Haaland