Only Marc Guéhi and Rayan Cherki keep their place in the XI from the side that narrowly lost 2-1 at Aston Villa on Saturday.
Gerónimo Rulli, Mateo Kovačić, Rayan Cherki, Vitor Reis, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Nico O’Reilly, Allan, Phil Foden, Floyd Samba and Rico Lewis all come into the team.
The bench includes Academy graduates Kaden Braithwaite and Ryan McAidoo and 17-year-old Dexter Oliver who could make his first-team debut.
TEAMS
CITY XI: Rulli, Lewis, Reis, Guéhi (C), O’Reilly, Bouaddi, Kovačić, Foden, Cherki, Allan, F. Samba.
Subs: Bettinelli, Ndiaye, Doku, Fernández, Aït-Nouri, Khusanov, McAidoo, Braithwaite, Oliver.
BRIGHTON XI: Steele, Costinha, Svoboda, Boscagli, Hadjam, Gross (C), Gomez, Ayari, Hinshelwood, Yalcouye, Georginio.
Subs: Verbruggen, Dunk, Minteh, Promise, Osman, Wieffer, De Cuyper, O’Riley, Vuskovic
FORMATION
With so many new faces in the team, Maresca has a number of ways he could line up tonight.
A centre-back pairing of Guéhi and Reis would seem most likely with Lewis and O’Reilly either side of them.
Bouaddi and Kovačić are then likely to act as the midfield anchors with Foden and Cherki as the creators.
Floyd Samba, who scored twice in the previous round against Norwich is expected to lead the line with Brazilian Allan on the wong.
DREAM ACADEMY
City have four homegrown talents in the team tonight and another three on the bench.
Foden, O’Reilly and Lewis are well-known regulars and Samba, McAidoo and Braithwaite are making strides towards going the same way.
And another new face has been added to the list tonight with 17-year-old Oliver among the substitutes.
He is an exciting, attacking midfielder with an eye for goal and helped us to the Under-18 Premier League North and FA Youth Cup last season.
May I assist you?
Substitute Aït-Nouri may be awaiting his first Manchester City goal but he has a pretty good assists record, particularly in the Carabao Cup.
Since his debut in the competition in August 2021, no player has more assists than the Algerian’s six, with four in his last four League Cup appearances for City alone.
Aït-Nouri has had to be patient for his opportunities this season with only one start and two substitute appearances so far.
But in his 133 minutes on the pitch, he has contributed three assists in total with two against Norwich City in the previous round and another away at FC Porto in the UEFA Champions League.
Statzone
The only previous League Cup meeting between Manchester City and Brighton and Hove Albion was in the second round in 2008/09; after a 2-2 draw at the Withdean Stadium, the Seagulls won 5-3 on penalties.
Brighton are unbeaten in four games against City, winning twice, their best ever unbeaten run against us, all in Premier League games. However, they’ve never won an away game at the Etihad in 16 attempts in all competitions.
City have won our last seven League Cup matches, our joint-best ever winning run in the competition. Only six teams have won eight in a row, most recently Newcastle United (nine between October 2024 and December 2025).
Brighton have played 17 matches in the League Cup since the 2020/21 campaign and have either failed to score (four) and scored two or more goals (13) every time. They are averaging 2.5 goals per game in that time (42 in 17 games), with only Manchester United (2.6, 46 in 18 games) and Blackburn Rovers (2.6, 41 in 16 games) having a better ratio across this period.
Since Fabian Hürzeler’s first season in charge in 2024-25, Brighton and Hove Albion have scored more League Cup goals via players aged 22 or younger than any other side (18) – second in this regard in this timeframe is Manchester City with 12.
