Roberto De Zerbi responds to Pep Guardiola's personal praise following Crystal Palace victory

The Manchester City manager said De Zerbi was producing “wonderful football” on the south coast and claimed the Italian was changing many things in English football.

The Spaniard said: “We’ve an Italian coach in Premier League, De Zerbi. He’s changing many things in the English football. He’s producing wonderful football.

"People said: you can’t play the ball from defense in PL. He’s doing that, and incredibly well."

Guardiola made the comments following City’s 7-0 thumping of RB Leipzig in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday (March 14).

When asked about the ex-Barcelona man’s praise, De Zerbi said: “It’s an honour for me these words from Pep. He is a top coach and the best coach.

"I don’t want to change nothing. I want to work on my vision and my style and I really lucky to work with these players, because my ideas without these quality of players is impossible to show.”

Wednesday (March 15) night’s victory over arch-rivals Crystal Palace was De Zerbi’s ninth win in his last 14 games in charge of Brighton.

Under the Italian’s leadership, Brighton have entered the race for Champions League football, currently sitting six points of fourth-placed Tottenham in seventh, with two games in hand.

Albion are also in contention to win the first piece of major silverware in the club’s history, having made it to the FA Cup quarter finals, where they face League Two Grimsby on Sunday (March 19).

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The 43-year-old’s early success at the Amex Stadium has garnered the interest of Tottenham Hotspur and Italian clubs Inter, AC Milan, Juventus and AS Roma in recent weeks.

Despite the high praise, De Zerbi told the media he was now only focusing on Sunday’s quarter-final game, saying: “I would like to qualify for the semi-final of the FA Cup. We have to be serious because it could be another difficult game against a team that defends in the last 20 metres.

"We have to find the right solution and the right position to score and to close the game. Today [the Crystal Palace game], if we find the second goal, it can change everything. If you don’t you have to fight until the end. I am happy to win in this way for us because it is important.”