A late pair of Brighton goals courtesy of João Pedro and Premier League debutant Matt O’Riley led Brighton to their first win against Manchester City in over three years.
The visitors dominated the early stages, with Erling Haaland’s opener something of an inevitability.
But come the second half, Brighton were much the better side. That they only conceded twice flattered City: The Seagulls thoroughly deserved all three points.
As it happened
These have been turbulent times for Manchester City. That sounds a tad rich; this is a side who have won the last four Premier League titles and were Champions of Europe 18 short months ago – how much trouble could they really be in?
Alas, three losses on the spin is a record no side would be proud of, let alone a side with ambitions of winning everything. A trip to the Amex Stadium was not going to be the easiest way to bounce back to form, not least with a rarely goal-shy Erling Haaland leading the line: he’d only scored one goal in his last five appearances. With the second half disaster against Sporting CP still fresh in the memory, how this game would pan out was anyone’s guess.
But they started with real intent. The first half-hour was one of total domination. Brighton wouldn’t get a sniff; they’d keep only 27% of the ball.
The visitors were winning all their battles, whether it be Savinho making mincemeat of Pervis Estupiñán on the far side of the pitch, Ederson sweeping up every hopeful ball forward, or Mateo Kovačić dominating the entire Brighton midfield all on his own.
It was only a matter of time before the opening flurry of shots would arrive. First it was Savinho, breaking into the area before trying to poke a finish into the far corner. On this occasion, Bart Verbruggen was equal to the Brazilian, forcing the shot out for a corner.
Then the second chance came in the 23rd minute, this time courtesy of Haaland – and it wouldn’t be spurned.
Well, that’s not entirely true. When Kovačić won the ball after a loose pass in the middle of the park, drove forward and slipped his striker in behind, it looked as though the conclusion would be foregone. But it wasn’t, with Haaland’s strike smothered by the Dutchman between the sticks.
But it bounced up underneath Verbruggen, much to his chagrin and Haaland’s delight. At the second time of asking, he powered goalwards, shrugged off Jan Paul van Hecke and cannoned his effort into the back of the net, albeit with a helping hand courtesy of the underside of the crossbar.
Embed from Getty ImagesNow with the lead and still dominating the game, this looked much more like the Manchester City everyone’s used to. This wasn’t the side losing its midfield battles and being left out at sea as they had been recently n; this was the side which had made winning Premier League titles look as simple as counting to four.
They could’ve made it two at any point in the next five minutes, with Haaland missing two further chances thanks to Verbruggen forcing one shot onto the post and out, and his own aerial inaccuracy, nodding Phil Foden’s corner over the bar after the Brighton goalkeeper missed the cross entirely.
But after the half-hour mark, The Seagulls were allowed back into the contest. Danny Welbeck – with what might as well have been his first touch of the game – was played into the area and had his shot denied only by a crucial sliding intervention from Joško Gvardiol, today playing at centre half thanks to his side’s ever-growing injury list.
On the topic of Welbeck, he was a man on a mission. He hadn’t scored against Manchester City since he was wearing the red of their rivals, and he would create another chance of his own in the 39th minute, winning a free kick 30 yards out and then curling the strike just wide of the post.
Half time came and Brighton were behind, but growing into the game; not on top per se, but very much in the contest. They had reason not to lose faith, too. They were the only team in the Premier League yet to lose after going a goal behind.
No surprise, then, that Fabian Hürzeler’s side were motivated at the start of the second period. The opening stages were all theirs; substitute Carlos Baleba created all kinds of problems for City’s backline, particularly when he whipped in a tremendous cross towards the back post where Kaoru Mitoma had acres of space and plenty of time to get the ball under his spell and play it back into the box. But instead, he rushed it, heading into Ederson’s grateful grasp.
Two minutes after that chance, they’d get their best of the game thus far. This time it was Estupiñán sending a ball into the box, one which was met by Jack Hinshelwood not seven yards away from goal. His header was bulleted goalwards, but to his visible shock, Ederson leapt to his left and made a tremendous save. If there was any doubt about it before, there wasn’t now: Brighton were alive and kicking.
Embed from Getty ImagesManchester City were playing with fire. They would enjoy lengthy spells of possession and do nothing productive. The hosts, on the other hand, were creating chance after chance.
Pep Guardiola’s side’s high line had done a wonderful job of cutting Brighton chances short in the first half, but in the second they were being exposed time and time again.
If it wasn’t Estupiñán or Mitoma sending in dangerous crosses, it was Baleba sending the latter and João Pedro in behind.
Much more was asked of Ederson than he would’ve hoped in the second half. It was he who denied Mitoma, and João Pedro whose poor finishing denied himself; but it wouldn’t stay that way for long.
On 78 minutes, Brighton were in again. It was the same as it had been all game; Mitoma down the left-hand side, given more than enough time to whip a ball into the box. This time it caused utter uncertainty. Four City players crowded around the ball, none of them able to clear it.
Out of the melee emerged João Pedro with just enough space to crash the ball home from within the six-yard box. It was an equaliser that had been coming, City having learnt few lessons from Lisbon.
Brighton’s foot was on their visitor’s throat. They were hungry for more, and four minutes after levelling up they’d go one step further.
It was tremendous football, starting with Baleba in the middle towards Welbeck. He laid it off for the scorer of their first, who played Matt O’Riley in behind. Cue the dream Premier League debut; one on one, he took a touch to get the ball under control, and another to slip it past Ederson. Brighton led for the first time on the night – and they thoroughly deserved it.
Embed from Getty ImagesCity couldn’t hit back. For the first time since 2006, they’ve now lost four consecutive games. For only the second time in 92 appearances, they’ve taken the lead in a Premier League game and come out of it the losers. If there was turbulence before kick-off, they were in free fall at full time, leaving themselves ever further at the mercy of Arne Slot’s Liverpool.
It’s a tremendous win for Brighton, though. They themselves had lost their last two, but are now up to fourth in the Premier League, at least for now. Fabian Hürzeler, once a youth player at Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich, got the better of his former master, a man who – more than you believe – will be rather worried about his current predicament, the international break not coming soon enough.
The lineups
BHA: Verbruggen; Estupiñán, Igor, Van Hecke, Veltman; Mitoma, Ayari, Hinshelwood, Adingra; Welbeck, Rutter
MCI: Ederson; Lewis, Gvardiol, Simpson-Pusey, Walker; Kovačić; Nunes, Gündoğan, Foden, Savinho; Haaland
