Brighton delivered a surprising performance on Saturday, defeating Manchester City 2-1 at Falmer Stadium in Brighton and Hove, England. This marks the defending Premier League champions' first four-game losing streak in all competitions since August 2006.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City in the 23rd minute and had a couple of narrow misses in a first half where Manchester City had five shots on target. Despite City's strong start, Brighton improved significantly in the second half. Substitutes Joao Pedro and Premier League debutant Matt O'Riley found the net, securing the victory for Brighton.
The loss adds to City's recent setbacks, following defeats to Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup, Bournemouth in the Premier League, and a 4-1 thrashing by Sporting CP in the UEFA Champions League earlier this week. Bernardo Silva described the situation as a \"dark place\" for the team. This marks the first time manager Pep Guardiola has watched his club lose four consecutive games. Currently, Manchester City trails league leaders Liverpool by five points after \"The Reds\" defeated Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield.
Injuries have severely impacted Manchester City, with Nathan Ake, John Stones, Jack Grealish, and Ruben Dias all sidelined for the match against Brighton. Longer-term absentees include Rodri and Oscar Bobb.
“Of course, it's November, we are not far away from rival teams in this position before the international break,” Guardiola stated. “The key to winning games is the people come back fit, the people come back and can play, can train and then improve our results.”
He added, “We need to clear our heads, go into the international break, and for players to come back fit. The success that they had the last seasons were because we had fewer injuries. I would like the players to be consistent and be able to play at the level we played in the first half.”
Reference(s):
Manchester City upset by Brighton, suffer fourth straight loss
cgtn.com
