Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler is expected to revert to his strongest lineup for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Hurzeler made seven changes to his Seagulls side that suffered a penalty-shootout defeat to the Citizens in the EFL Cup fourth round on Wednesday following a 2-2 draw in 90 minutes.

Top scorer Charalampos Kostoulas (five) was not involved in that cup tie, but Hurzeler has assured supporters that he was merely rested and the teenager is expected to return up front at the expense of Georginio Rutter, who scored against City.

Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer marked their comebacks from injury with substitute appearances in the same game, but a start for either player on Saturday is considered unlikely.

Diego Gomez and Maxim De Cuyper are the most likely duo to begin on the flanks, while Yasin Ayari is set to take up an advanced midfield role ahead of Jack Hinshelwood.

Pascal Gross is all but certain to retain his starting spot in a deeper midfield position and could play alongside Chema Andres, who should be fit to feature after shaking off a hip injury picked up in the 2-0 loss at Liverpool last weekend.

The same can be said for Ferdi Kadioglu who a contender is to start at right-back, potentially joining captain Lewis Dunk, Lukas Vuskovic and Olivier Boscagli in a four man defence in front of goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

Meanwhile, Kaoru Mitoma, Femi Azeez, Pascal Struijk (all thigh), Evan Ferguson (ankle), Stefanos Tzimas (knee) and Zadok Yohanna (knock) all remain sidelined as they continue to recover from injury.

Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:

Verbruggen; Kadioglu, Dunk, Vuskovic, Boscagli; Gross, Andres; Gomez, Ayari, De Cuyper; Kostoulas