Seagulls sunk by champions: Man City 2-1 Brighton photos
No photos here of what we were hoping would be a first ever Brighton win away at Man City as the Seagulls were instead beaten 2-1 by Pep Guardiola’s treble winners.
The key word in that opening paragraph is hope. Going to the Etihad Stadium is a tough task at the best of times, let alone with City desperate to avoid a third consecutive Premier League defeat.
Three in a row had never happened before under Guardiola. Brighton might have got closer to inflicting the unthinkable had they not delivered a below-par first half performance littered with several individual errors.
James Milner at right back was totally torn apart by the pace of Jeremy Doku, so much so that the veteran right back was replaced at half time by Joel Veltman.
Doku teed up the opening City goal for Julian Alvarez after deploying his speed to breeze past Pascal Gross with only seven minutes on the clock.
Carlos Baleba then gave the ball straight to Erling Haaland in midfield 13 minutes later. Haaland did what Haaland does, taking full advantage of the gift to double the advantage.
At that point, a hammering could have been on the cards. In the 6-1 defeat to Aston Villa three weeks earlier, the Albion managed to survive longer than 20 minutes without conceding twice. And City are obviously a far superior team to Villa.
Brighton though improved immeasurably in the second half. Ansu Fati pulled one back to set up a nervy final 15.
Watching the champions waste time and commit cynical fouls in an attempt to see the game out rather than use their supreme footballing ability to push for a third was testament to the regard City hold Brighton in.
Those tactics ultimately worked as City eked out the three points, even though they ended the match with 10 men after Manuel Akanji tugged back Fati as the Albion looked to break.
More disappointing than the result for Brighton was Solly March being stretchered off with what looked like an ACL injury. March looks certain to face a lengthy spell on the side line in a devastating blow to Brighton.
If you have any photos you would like included in our Man City 2-1 Brighton gallery, please e-mail them to wearebrighton@hotmail.co.uk or tweet them to us @wearebrighton
