Manchester City were made to fight for three points on Saturday as they held on to a 2-1 win at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Pep Guardiola's side looked set to an afternoon in cruise control at the Etihad, Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland giving them a two-goal lead inside 19 minutes. But after failing to kick on and kill the game, their advantage was halved by Ansu Fati with a quarter of an hour to play.

Things were a little nervy in the final minutes and that feeling intensified when Manuel Akanji was sent off. Fati looked set to race away on the counter-attack and the City defender was left with little choice but to pull the winger down.

The home side were able to play out the final few minutes and Akanji's decision was justified, but Guardiola is now left with another suspension to contend with, having only just welcomed Rodri back. The Swiss international will serve just the one-game ban but it is some game to miss, as City head to Old Trafford for the Manchester Derby - and MEN Sport has taken a look at three ways the Blues could line up in his absence.

Dias straight swap Ruben Dias was the surprise omission from the starting line-up against Brighton with Guardiola opting for the pace of Akanji to partner the returning John Stones. But Dias has been City's Mr. Reliable and would be the obvious choice to come in for the suspended defender.

The Portuguese international steadied the ship when he came off the bench on Saturday and would be expected to do the same at Old Trafford, being able to use his physicality against Rasmus Hojlund.

In that game, Guardiola put Ake alongside Stones but the City boss might be minded to keep a more physical presence on Hojlund. He didn't have Josko Gvardiol at his disposal last season but could move the Croatian into centre-back, reintroducing Ake at left-back to rediscover that balance.

Out of possession, City have two options: Either Kyle Walker moves into central defence and Lewis moves to right-back, or Rodri drops in alongside Stones and Lewis sits in midfield. It would be a risk for Guardiola to move so much around for a big game but United have shown an inability to adapt quickly to surprising formational changes and it could cause some confusion.