Sachin Nakrani was at the Amex this evening. His report has landed ... and here it is! Clickity click! Thanks for reading this MBM.
Pep’s turn. “It was really good. We know exactly which team we faced. It was a good lesson for half an hour in the second half, they were better than us. We suffer. It was a huge victory for us. We win the game because we have good players. They have all the mechanisms of the big teams, they have courage and I admire that. They play like top four, top five.”
Graham Potter speaks to Sky. “We were fantastic in the second half. So proud of the players. They were together, they had spirit, they had quality. We are of course disappointed to lose, we have to say Manchester City were better, but our performance was something to be proud of. We gave a cheap goal away, and we suffered a bit first half, their quality was fantastic and all of a sudden the scoreline was not a very nice one. Credit to the players, who responded, and didn’t feel sorry for themselves. We’ll take a lot forward from that game.”
A lovely touch by the City squad today, incidentally, the team warming up in t-shirts emblazoned with the words “We’re with you, Guido”, in support of Belgian Manchester City fan Guido De Pauw, who was attacked after City’s win in Bruges during the week. Phil Foden sports it for his post-match interview as well. “We’re all here for him, and that’s why we wore the shirt today, to show our respect. We’re all fighting for him.”
Manchester City move into second spot, two points behind Chelsea, leapfrogging Liverpool who play Manchester United tomorrow afternoon. Brighton remain in fourth for now, though any one of Spurs, United, West Ham and Brentford can go above them with a good result tomorrow. That was a throughly deserved victory for City, who were outstanding in the first half, blowing Brighton away. But Brighton can be proud of their second-half performance, as they asked plenty of questions of City’s miserly defence, a fine response to being totally outplayed during the first 45. Everyone will be happy in their own way.
FULL TIME: Brighton 1-4 Manchester City
Manchester City respond to Chelsea’s seven-goal evisceration of Norwich with a masterclass of their own.
GOAL! Brighton 1-4 Manchester City (Mahrez 90+5)
No hat-trick for Foden, but it’s another assist. Brighton faff around at the back and are stripped by Fernandinho. The ball’s fed to Foden to the left of the D. Foden unselfishly slips right to Mahrez, on the penalty spot. Mahrez whips into the top right, and City restore their three-goal advantage, right at the death.
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90 min +4: Cancelo drives down the left, sashays infield, and whistles a long-distance drive down Sanchez’s throat.
90 min +3: Mahrez kills a high ball down the right with absurd ease. Stone dead. Audible gasps from the City end, who had been running through their champions songbook.
90 min +2: Sky Sports co-commentator Alan Smith gives two-goal Phil Foden the man-of-the-match award.
90 min: There will be five added minutes. Plenty of time for Brighton to get the two goals they need. The only problem being, City won’t give them the chance. They’re running the clock down with a fine display of keep-ball.
89 min: Foden wants his hat-trick, though, and dances his way down the inside-left channel before breaking into the box, only to be denied by Sanchez, throwing starfish shapes.
88 min: Silva and De Bruyne combine down the inside-right channel, the latter entering the box and looking for Mahrez in the middle. Cucurella gets in the way. Brighton deserve to win this second half, and take something positive from their match with the champions after a hellish first 45.
87 min: Jesus is replaced by Mahrez.
86 min: Lamptey is so much fun to watch. He makes his way into the City box with another showcase of intricate skill, teasing the City defence before lashing a shot wide right. Real off-the-seat entertainment. Brighton have missed him.
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84 min: Dias, slightly spooked by the concession of a goal, shoves March to the floor out on the left. Mac Allister, full of vim after his penalty, overcooks the resulting free kick. Ederson takes an age over the goal kick, and is booked for his trouble.
82 min: That’s just the fourth goal conceded by City in the league this season. “Brighton in their second half process, their combined intent and attacking substitutions shows a club with wonderful collective purpose,” writes Jeremy Dresner. “Three down at half time: damage limitation or go for it? Entertain? Regain pride? Only one answer: bravo Potter. Brighton do it right - deserve that pen and goal.”
GOAL! Brighton 1-3 Manchester City (Mac Allister 81)
After an interminable VAR check, the decision stands. Mac Allister takes the penalty, whipping it into the top right. Ederson gets a hand on it, but not enough. No more than Brighton deserve for their second-half performance.
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Penalty for Brighton!
79 min: Trossard slips a pass down the inside-left channel for Mwepu. The ball’s sliding out of play, but across comes Ederson, who recklessly clatters into the striker. Mwepu needs no encouragement to go over, and that’s what he does, purchasing a cheap spot kick from Ederson’s daft intervention.
77 min: A long pass down the left for Grealish, who for a second looks like breaking clear on goal. But Veltman isn’t having any of it, and crashes (fairly) into his man just as he shapes to shoot. Corner. It’s Grealish’s last act of the evening, as he’s replaced by De Bruyne. The corner comes to nothing.
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75 min: Fernandinho comes on for Gundogan. Ederson then hoicks a goal kick straight out of play on the full, much to the crowd’s amusement. It’s the little things sometimes.
73 min: Mac Allister comes on for Gross.
72 min: Lamptey asks too much of March down the right with an overhit pass ... but March races at full pelt then sensationally slides across the turf, hooks the ball on the byline, and plays it off Laporte in one smooth movement. Corner. Nothing comes of it, but there’s how to chase a lost cause.
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70 min: Lallana is booked for hanging out a leg across Gundogan. Or maybe arguing the toss at the award of a foul. Either way, in the book he goes.
69 min: City are unable to get out of their final third, so Walker is forced to purchase a cheap free kick, falling under very little influence from Trossard, then taking his sweet time to get back up. Street-fighting smarts from the City right back, recognising the need to calm things down, and a real show of respect to Brighton.
67 min: This is so much better from Brighton, who may not have any material reward for their second-half performance, but have their dignity back. They’ve played some very nice stuff.
65 min: The corner leads to some head tennis. Then an outstanding showcase of Lamptey’s skill, as he twists Grealish’s blood out on the right wing. Just exquisite! Proper old-school jinking. He reaches the byline, having wriggled out of a tight spot and left his man for dead. His cross leads to a corner, which is eventually dealt with by City, but you’ll surely see that outrageous Lamptey sequence again.
64 min: Moder dribbles adroitly into the box from the left, beating a couple of City challenges before shooting low. The ball’s deflected out for a corner on the left.
63 min: Moder is booked for a late tug on Rodri.
62 min: Corner leads to corner, which leads to nothing. Ederson was really fortunate with that Trossard shot, the ball squeezing under his body and looping across the face of goal, sailing out inches high and wide.
61 min: Moder and Trossard combine crisply down the inside-left channel. Trossard breaks into the box and shoots low and hard, across Ederson. The keeper isn’t totally convincing, but does enough to deflect the shot over the bar and wide right. Corner.
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60 min: Cancelo clatters into Lamptey, who was busy trapping a high ball, sending him crashing to the floor. It’s a clear yellow. Into the book he goes.
58 min: The hosts make a double change. Lamptey and Mwepu come on for Burn and Maupay. Trossard then has a whack from distance, but it’s an easy gather for Ederson.
57 min: Lallana, Moder and March work well down the left, carving out some space. March’s eventual low cross flies behind Maupay. Brighton are at least asking some questions now.
55 min: Trossard crosses from the left. Gross traps and spins at the far post, ten yards out, and slams a shot straight at Ederson, who gathers at the second attempt. Had Maupay been paying proper attention, he might have got to the loose ball. Much better from Brighton.
54 min: Cucurella and Trossard busy themselves down the left, and nearly open City up, but Jesus, of all people, makes a nuisance of himself and puts a stop to their gallop.
53 min: Nothing comes of the set piece.
52 min: City ping it around metronomically. Foden then swishes in from the left. Jesus prepares to wind his neck back for a goalscoring header, only for Burn to guide it out of play with a spectacular diving header of his own.
50 min: Foden slips a pass wide right for Jesus, who dribbles into the box and is tapped from behind by Cucurella. City want a penalty, but Cucurealla played hard but fair, easing his man off the ball and hooking clear.
49 min: Grealish causes more bother down the left. Cancelo helps. He flicks into the area for Foden, who spins and sends a shot wide left. He wants that hat-trick!
47 min: The corner is a non-event. Grealish then thinks about coming down the left again, but is clattered by Veltman. He looks distinctly unimpressed. The referee stops short of a booking; just a lecture this time.
46 min: Grealish probes down the left. He cuts back for Cancelo, whose low drive is deflected wide right of the goal. Corner.
Brighton get the second half underway. No changes.
Half-time reading. Oh Rafa.
HALF TIME: Brighton 0-3 Manchester City
This is fourth versus third, remember. City have been a class above.
45 min: Burn’s loose pass infield allows Gundogan to romp forward. He feeds Foden, on a hat-trick to his right. Foden takes a touch and aims a curler for the top left. Sanchez saves.
43 min: Rodri’s loose touch gifts the ball to March, who momentarily looks like bearing down on goal. But he faffs around, and is forced to turn tail. Brighton retain possession, though, and March tries to make up for it by sending a rising drive towards the top right. Ederson claims, but only after a weak parry spins over his head and nearly drops into the net. That would have given Brighton a glimmer of hope going into the break.
42 min: Cucurella, Brighton’s saving grace, wins a corner off Silva down the left. March whips it through a crowded box. Not sure how it evades everyone, but there it goes, out the other side of the box.
40 min: Brighton with more of the intricate passing out from the back under intense City pressure. Sanchez gets involved and larrups one into the stand. Safety first now.
38 min: CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS! Turns out the third goal is Foden’s. Jesus’ shot was heading wide left, and was diverted by Foden, standing just ahead of him. That’s Foden’s second goal, it also says here, which means forget anything previously reported about poor old Burn. Foden must have got his toe in first to score City’s second.
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36 min: Cucurella whips another one into the mixer. Ederson claims it without too much fuss. Cucurella is great to watch in full flight.
35 min: Cucurella has been lively, to be fair, and he once again makes good down the left. His cross is headed behind by Rodri. From the corner, City threaten to break dangerously again, but Cancelo runs into trouble with plenty of options ahead.
34 min: Brighton can’t get a sniff. This is some response by the champions to Chelsea’s seven-goal show earlier today.
GOAL! Brighton 0-3 Manchester City (Jesus 32)
Brighton are getting ripped to shreds here. Silva intercepts Dunk’s upfield pass and City stream forward. Jesus scuttles in from the right and feeds Grealish on the left. Grealish, one on one with Sanchez, goes for the near post. Not quite. The ball’s deflected back to Jesus, who slots into the bottom left. Sanchez got a hand to it, but couldn’t keep it out.
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30 min: That might be Foden’s goal, mind. Replays aren’t cut and dried. Let’s wait for some official confirmation.
GOAL! Brighton 0-2 Manchester City (Burn og 28)
... Silva breaks at speed. He slips Grealish clear down the left. Grealish enters the box, draws Sanchez, and rolls across for Foden. Just as Foden shapes to slam home, Burn makes a last-ditch sliding attempt to intercept, but only succeeds in toeing the ball into the top right.
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27 min: Cucurella has a good run at Walker, who now has to be very careful. He tries to thread a pass towards Trossard in the box. But it’s intercepted, and ...
25 min: Brighton don’t half take some chances passing out from the back. It’s very entertaining to watch as a neutral, as they attempt to solve City’s pressing puzzle. Not sure how much fun it is for those with rather more emotionally invested in their success, but it’s clearly bearing fruit, so fair play.
23 min: Walker is correctly booked for a late rake down the side of Cucurella’s boot.
21 min: Sanchez is nothing if not entertaining. He wanders out of his area to trap and control Ederson’s long upfield pass, with Jesus close by. Calmness personified under intense pressure.
19 min: Sanchez makes another important save, as Jesus sends a low diagonal drive towards the bottom left, through a crowded box. A strong hand denies City.
18 min: Some more space for March down the right. His deep cross is headed wide left by Moder. City go up the other end, Grealish bursting into the box down the inside-left channel. He’s one on one with the keeper. Sanchez slide tackles to block. Fine save, and some redemption for the earlier gaffe.
17 min: Brighton show in attack for the first time, March finding some space and hooking infield towards Trossard, who swivels and loops a shot over the bar from the edge of the box.
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15 min: Those are the sort of decisions that so often go the goalkeeper’s way, never mind who instigates the contact. But the referee has done the right thing here. Sanchez jumped into the back of Jesus, failed to claim, and the mistake was all his own work.
GOAL! Brighton 0-1 Manchester City (Gundogan 13)
... but it’s all for nought. Sanchez challenges Jesus for a high ball by his left-hand post. He fumbles into the path of Silva, who nicks the ball into the six-yard box for Gundogan, who taps into the net from a couple of yards. Brighton are livid, claiming a foul on the keeper, but it’s the right decision. A howler by Sanchez.
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11 min: This is outrageous! Jesus is sent scampering into acres of space down the right flank. He makes it into the box, teases his way past Cucurella, and fires a low shot towards the bottom right. It pings off Sanchez’s foot, but looks like heading in anyway ... only for Dunk to extend a telescopic leg and hook the ball off the line and away! Everyone waits for the referee’s watch to buzz, surely, but no, the ball hasn’t crossed the line. What a stunning acrobatic intervention by Dunk!
10 min: City are first to everything at the moment. Like that’s breaking news.
8 min: The corner leads to some head tennis. The game is eventually halted when Sanchez leaps to claim. “I know Potter takes a lot of inspiration from continental managers, but saying City are in a ‘good moment’ has got to be a new extreme,” quips Edan Tal. Brendan Rodgers has plenty of form for this sort of carry-on, too. Perhaps Potter’s merely mimicking Northern Ireland’s finest?
7 min: Grealish dances down the left. He reaches the byline and cuts back for Cancelo, who sends a low drive towards the bottom left. Sanchez gets down well to turn around the post for the first corner of the game.
5 min: Foden loops in. Brighton clear. Walker launches back into the mixer. Sanchez claims, then clanks his clearance into Lallana’s back! The keeper’s very lucky to get away with the clumsy mistake.
4 min: Out on the left flank, Dunk shoves Foden in the back, a stupid challenge given the City midfielder was running the ball out of play. It’s now a chance for the visitors to load the box.
2 min: A quiet start allows me to dig out a pic of the classic City logo. Refresh and you’ll see that below, with added 70s frisson courtesy of the Co-op. You’re welcome.
MAN CITY get the ball rolling, but only after everyone takes the knee. The warm applause of support. There’s no room for racism.
Here come the teams! Brighton are in their blue and white stripes, while poor City have to make do with that MAN CITY monstrosity Puma has foisted on a grand old club with one of the most recognisable and iconic crests around. And no the fact that the crest is repeated in the pattern of the fabric isn’t good enough. We’ll be off in a minute.
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Pep Guardiola’s turn to have a chat with Sky Sports. “This is a big challenge, definitely. Man to man, they are so aggressive, really good in the final third, they have really good principles. I am so, so happy. I don’t have any complaints with my team. Our game in Bruges was exceptional. Burnley was not perfect, but it’s normal. Always you have a little bit up and down.”
Graham Potter talks to Sky. “City are a team in a fantastic moment. We know the challenge. Shane Duffy has had a load of football and it’s a tactical decision to bring Solly March in, who has been also been playing well. It’s no slight on Shane at all, he’s there and ready to help us at the back end of the game. It gives us an option to play an extra midfield player. We need to be focused because they can take you apart.”
Brighton make just one change to the side that drew with Norwich last weekend. Solly March replaces Shane Duffy for the hosts, who have drawn their last two games 0-0.
Manchester City make two changes from the Champions League rout in Bruges. Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus are back. Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez drop to the bench. Raheem Sterling, not fully fit, misses out altogether.
The teams
Brighton & Hove Albion: Sanchez, Veltman, Dunk, Burn, Cucurella, Gross, Moder, Lallana, March, Trossard, Maupay.
Subs: Lamptey, Webster, Connolly, Bissouma, Mac Allister, Mwepu, Steele, Duffy, Richards.
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo, Silva, Rodri, Gundogan, Jesus, Grealish, Foden.
Subs: Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Steffen, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Palmer, Edozie.
Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire).
Preamble
It’s fourth versus third as Graham Potter’s high-flying birds take on Noel Gallagher’s Manchester City. Brighton won this fixture 3-2 last season, coming from two down, a run that snapped seven straight victories for City against Albion. Pep Guardiola’s champions are hot favourites to get back to winning ways against Brighton this evening, but it could be closer than many anticipate: City have lost two of their past five away fixtures in the Premier League, the hosts are unbeaten in five, and as the old saw goes, the table doesn’t lie. Or does it? Maybe it does. Either way, we’ll soon find out. Kick off is at 5.30pm BST. It’s on!
