Enzo Maresca has made a total of nine changes to his Manchester City starting lineup for tonight’s EFL Cup fourth-round tie against Brighton & Hove Albion at the Etihad Stadium.

Only Marc Guehi and Rayan Cherki retain their place in the first XI from the City that suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season away against Aston Villa (2-1) last weekend.

Despite coming under fire for a few error-strewn performances, Guehi will captain the Citizens at the heart of the defence in the absence of Ruben Dias, who is one of five first-team stars rested along with Erling Haaland, Elliot Anderson, Josko Gvardiol and Gianluigi Donnarumma. Matheus Nunes, meanwhile, is still nursing an injury.

Vitor Reis will play alongside Guehi at centre-back, as Rico Lewis and Nico O'Reilly operate as full-backs in a four-man defence protecting goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, who is starting just his second game since joining in the summer.

Ayyoubi Bouaddi and Mateo Kovacic will link arms in centre-midfield as Cherki most likely operates in the number 10 role, while Phil Foden and Allan will occupy wide positions.

With Haaland rested, 17-year-old Floyd Samba will lead the line and will be looking to add to the two EFL Cup goals he scored on his senior debut in City's 5-0 third-round win over Norwich last month.

Minteh, Wieffer return to Brighton squad as Hurzeler makes seven changes

As for Brighton, head coach Fabian Hurzeler has made a total of seven changes to the side that began the 2-0 defeat at Liverpool in the Premier League last Sunday.

Defender Olivier Boscagli and midfield trio Pascal Gross, Diego Gomez and Yasin Ayari are the only four players who keep their starting spots for the Seagulls.

Protecting Jason Steele between the sticks, Boscagli, Michael Svoboda, Costinha and Jaouen Hadjam will all line up in the back four, while Jack Hinshelwood is set to operate in an advanced midfield role ahead of captain Gross and Ayari.

Gomez and Malick Yalcouye are set to begin out wide, while Georginio Rutter will start up front at the expense of Charalampos Kostoulas, who is Brighton's top scorer in all competitions with five goals.

Elsewhere, Brighton have been boosted by the return of Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer, who have recovered from long-term injuries and will begin on the substitutes' bench.

Minteh is pushing to make his first appearance of the season for the Seagulls, while Wieffer has missed each of the last nine matches in all competitions. 

However, Ferdi Kadioglu and Chema Andres have been left out of the matchday squad having failed to recover from hip problems picked up against Liverpool.

Manchester City starting lineup: Rulli; Lewis, Reis, Guehi, O’Reilly; Bouaddi, Kovacic; Foden, Cherki, Allan; Samba

Subs: Bettinelli, Ndiaye, Doku, Fernandez, Ait-Nouri, Khusanov, McAidoo, Braithwaite, Oliver

Brighton & Hove Albion starting lineup: Steele; Costinha, Svoboda, Boscagli, Hadjam; Gross, Ayari; Gomez, Hinshelwood, Yalcouye; Rutter

Subs: Verbruggen, Dunk, Minteh, Promise, Osman, Wieffer, De Cuyper, O'Riley, Vuskovic