Brighton 2-1 Man City: Seagulls shock four-in-a-row champions
When you are one of the richest clubs in the world facing 115 charges of breaking financial fair play rules, you should be able to turn a game with your substitutes. Yet it was Brighton who scored two goals from their bench to pick up a famous 2-1 win over four-in-a-row Premier League champions Man City.
It looked through the first 30 minutes at the Amex as if City would resume normal business. Pep Guardiola has never lost four consecutive games in his managerial career. The last time City were defeated four times in a row was before they became a sportswashing tool for Abu Dhabi.
The visitors took an early lead through Erling Haaland and enjoyed total dominance of the opening half hour. Brighton had something like 20 percent possession and did not manage a single shot. The Amex was silent.
But the second half was a total role reversal. Brighton took control. The noise levels rose. And eventually, Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley scored within four minutes of each other to leave City shocked and Guardiola tearing his hair out.
Pedro and O’Riley were not the only super subs on show. Fabian Hurzeler also introduced Carlos Baleba at half time, a change which had a greater impact than Pedro and O’Riley.
With Baleba on the pitch, Brighton saw more of the ball and won the midfield battle. He was outstanding in turning over possession and getting the Albion on the front foot.
Carry on like this over the remaining 27 games of the season and Brighton will be fighting off offers for Baleba next summer.
Bart Vebruggen is likely to have suitors also. The Albion number one made a series of excellent first half saves in Brighton 2-1 Man City, without which the visitors could have been out of sight before the break.
Verbruggen denied Savinho, Haaland and Mateo Kovacic. He almost managed to keep out Haaland’s opener too, saving the Norwegian’s initial effort. Unfortunately, Haaland converted the rebound despite Jan Paul van Hecke coming desperately close to clearing off the line.
Yasin Ayari gave the ball away to Kovacic in the build up to the goal. The young Swede endured a testing 45 minutes before being replaced by Baleba, including picking up an early booking for a tackle on Phil Foden more suited to Twickenham than the Amex.
A couple of half-chances came the Albion’s way before the break. Pervis Estupinan shot wide and Danny Welbeck bent a free kick into the side netting.
The Albion were starting to look more confident and that continued into the second half after Hurzeler delivered a team talk which he said asked the players to have more self-belief and courage.
Jack Hinshelwood should have levelled when placing a powerful header from a Pervis Estupinan cross too close to Ederson.
Kaoru Mitoma was now beginning to become increasingly prominent, sending Kyle Walker’s head spinning. One brilliant piece of Mitoma skill got him away from the England international and teed up Georginio Rutter for a header over the bar.
Then came a raft of Hurzeler changes. O’Riley, Pedro and Brajan Gruda all entered proceedings. Pedro was soon causing problems, springing the City offside trap to get onto a fine Van Hecke pass.
The finish from Pedro did not match the perfectly timed run and delicious piece of control as he dragged wide with just Ederson to beat.
Having knocked on the door throughout the second half, Brighton finally got the equaliser they deserved with 12 minutes remaining.
Mitoma sent an outside of the boot cross into the box. Welbeck was busy enough to prevent any one of three City defenders clearing. Pedro then seized on the ball and steered an effort into the back of the net to spark bedlam around the Amex.
Albion fans were still celebrating the leveller when O’Riley struck less than 240 seconds later. An intricate passing move involving Igor, Baleba, Welbeck and Pedro led to the Brazilian forward slipping in O’Riley.
The £25 million summer signing from Celtic did the rest, beating Ederson to mark his first Premier League appearance with a goal and make it Brighton 2-1 Man City.
Talk about a contrasting start to your Albion career. Ankle surgery needed after less than 10 minutes of your debut against Creepy Crawley. Scoring the winner three months later on your comeback past the reigning Premier League champions.
Haaland and Phil Foden provided two scary moments in the remaining eight minutes plus time added on but Brighton held firm for only their second Premier League victory over City.
Guardiola did not take the previous defeat particularly well, getting into a heated debate with Glow Up Graham Potter after Brighton recovered from 2-0 down to beat City 3-2 in May 2021.
On this occasion, the City boss had an intense exchange with Van Hecke afterwards. The Dutch defender has since said Guardiola only had nice things to say about Brighton, although to watch it at the time was to think Pep was tearing his hair out at losing to the Albion. Again.
Some Saturday night at the Amex.
