Brighton 2-1 Manchester City: Pep Guardiola’s men fall to two consecutive losses
For all the control Manchester City had, all of Erling Haaland’s menace, and all of the restless gesturing from Pep Guardiola on the touchline, it was Brighton who wrote the afternoon’s final word.
Brajan Gruda, a 21-year-old substitute who had barely featured in the Premier League until now, darted into space in the dying minutes, sat James Trafford down and rolled the ball into an empty net to create delirium at the Amex.
City’s slump came only a week after being outmanoeuvred by Tottenham in front of their own fans. But that match had little in the way of opportunities for them as Thomas Frank’s side were well drilled and disciplined.
At the Amex Guardiola’s side were on top for the better part of an hour. Haaland opened the scoring on his 100th Premier League appearance, poking home in front of the onrushing Bart Verbruggen, after Oscar Bobb’s incisive drive had opened up Brighton’s defence.
They could, and perhaps should, have been three-nil up in the first half. But the profligate Haaland scuffed one chance at Verbruggen, dragged another wide, and saw a point-blank header beaten away.
Then Fabian Hurzeler rang the changes at the hour mark and City’s dominance soon dissolved. James Milner, playing against the club where he became a household name, dragged Brighton level from the penalty spot midway through the second half, after Matheus Nunes had carelessly raised his arm and handled Lewis Dunk’s ball in.
At 39, Milner became the second-oldest scorer in Premier League history, behind only Teddy Sheringham. The former City and Liverpool man celebrated the occasion in tribute to his former teammate Diogo Jota.
There was still time for City to mess things up further as Brighton began to buzz with intent. Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma and Gruda all came close before James Trafford clawed away Jan Paul van Hecke’s deflected strike with two minutes left on the clock.
It was a reprieve but there was none a moment later when Mitoma threaded a pass through the lines to Gruda, who collected and claimed his moment.
