Manchester City will play host to Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola will be desperate for his Manchester City players to bounce back immediately following the disappointing Premier League defeat to Nottingham Forest last weekend.
The problems at The Etihad have been clear to see this year, and now a big turnover of players is expected at Man City in the summer.
Numerous City players have dropped off massively this season, but Pep isn’t blameless either.
Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
He has made some really questionable calls, with his treatment of certain players like Jack Grealish currently under the spotlight.
However, the focus now has to be purely on the remaining 10 Premier League games of the season.
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A win against Brighton would switch the narrative around very quickly indeed. However, City have been handed some bad news just a few days before the game.
Man City fans will be fuming after Premier League’s Brighton announcement
The Seagulls will represent an incredibly difficult test for City this weekend.
Fabian Hurzeler’s men play some of the best possession-based football in the Premier League.
That said, Pep’s side need to get three points against Brighton by whatever means necessary.
Their task of doing just that has just got a lot more problematic though.
That’s because the Premier League have confirmed via their official website that Simon Hooper will referee the game against Brighton this weekend.
Manchester City fans will be very familiar with Simon Hooper, but for all the wrong reasons.
He arguably made the worst error any referee has made during a Man City game in recent history.
The huge mistake Simon Hooper made during Manchester City game
Let’s rewind to December 2023, when City played host to Tottenham at The Etihad.
With the scores level at 3-3 and the game deep into injury time, Pep Guardiola’s side were on the verge of a quick counter attack after Erling Haaland was fouled.
The big Norwegian managed to swivel and play Jack Grealish through on goal. Hooper initially appeared to give City the advantage and wave play on.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
However, he then blew his whistle to pull play back for a Man City free-kick. It was a truly awful, utterly bizarre decision from Hooper.
To this day, nobody actually knows the reasoning behind the 42-year-old’s action.
Perp Guardiola, Haaland and his teammates were apoplectic with range after game finished.
It’s no coincidence that Hooper has refereed just two Premier League games for Man City, a full 15 months after that shocking incident at The Etihad Stadium.
Having a referee for the Brighton game who’s so obviously unfit for purpose will not be good news for Manchester City, especially considering the fact that he committed such a terrible howler when officiating one of their games in the past.