I’ll leave you with Jamie Jackson’s match report. Thanks for your company tonight!
Potter speaks:
So proud of the players, they gave everything against a top team. Second half I thought we improved our game, a bit more aggressive and it was a really really good performance. I thought the boys gave everything.
Results are hard to come by in this league, we have to make sure we perform well and with spirit. Our season won’t be defined by Manchester City away.
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Foden chats:
I feel we’re back to our best. Today I still thought we could have done better but we dug deep to get the win. I’m very proud of the team, how we kept going to the final whistle. They defended well and made it difficult for us, so to get the goal before half-time was really important and I’m delighted. I don’t score too many with my right foot so when they come along I enjoy it.
All of which means Spurs v Fulham is of big interest to both of these teams. Barry Glendenning has it especially for you:
File that one under “not a classic”. Brighton played well there, I thought, and all the more so given they were weakened somewhat. City rarely looked like putting them away, really, save for that little flurry before the hour mark and of course the penalty. But at the moment it’s more about getting the job done, I think. The win puts City third for the moment – provisionally second above Liverpool if they were to win a game in hand – and four points off leaders United.
Brighton need points, not plaudits, pretty soon: they are three points and one place off the drop zone and Fulham, directly beneath them, have *three* games in hand.
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Full-time: Manchester City 1-0 Brighton
Foden’s lovely goal wins it, and means Sterling won’t need to worry overly about that pretty horrible penalty miss at the end.
90+3 min: And the Seagulls have a late free-kick. Sanchez goes up for it! But City survive, if a touch scruffily.
Raheem Sterling misses from the spot!
Wow – he’s totally skied it! That was embarrassing. Brighton live to fight another minute or so.
Penalty to Manchester City
A loose header back by Dunk, from Brighton’s own throw-in, is pounced upon by De Bruyne and Sanchez brings him down near the byline.
90+1 min: We’ll see three added minutes, which feels right.
89 min: Nice run by Khadra down the right, but he can’t find a yellow shirt with his cutback. City are still worried though as we near stoppage time.
88 min: And it’s wasted again, Ederson collecting but it’d curled out of play anyway. Potter must be tearing his hair out. You have to make these count!
87 min: Can Brighton muster a late charge? They have a left-sided corner and the big guys are up there. March outswings it but it’s poor and doesn’t get beyond the near post. They do win another now though ...
86 min: Trossard, who has played well tonight, comes off and the 19-year-old Reda Khadra – a new name to me – is on.
Brighton played pretty well this half - they have tried to walk it in a bit. Need to stick it in the mixer occasionally IMHO xoxoxox
— Max Rushden 💙 (@maxrushden) January 13, 2021
Max knows.
83 min: Sterling cuts inside immediately but March blocks his attempted curler. Perhaps City have been sparked into attempting to put this to bed.
82 min: Foden, who may well have won this match with that clever finish, comes off and Sterling replaces him.
81 min: A bit more control from City in these last couple of moments but I’m not sure Guardiola will be massively content with what’s happening out there.
78 min: Trossard seems to have played Maupay in, and Ederson is out of his goal ... and could the striker lob him? He’s denied by a marvellous recovery challenge by Stones just as he looks to take aim! Brighton are having a real go now.
77 min: Webster is booked for a late, rather than malicious, slash at Bernardo Silva.
75 min: Brighton look bolder now, certainly in the past 15 minutes, but more susceptible on the break. That’s the trade-off. But we might see another goal in this yet. The game isn’t done by a long stretch.
73 min: A dangerous free-kick position for Brighton midway inside City’s half, but they try a clever one down the side and it doesn’t come off. They retain possession but the threat has passed for now.
72 min: I don’t sense we are going to remember too much about this game but, look, we’re pretty lucky to be able to mull over it like this given the wider climate.
70 min: Oddly the early signs are of a left-sided role for Jesus. Hey ho.
68 min: Tau, who has been bright in patches, is replaced by Maupay and March comes on for Propper. An attacking double change from Potter, overall.
67 min: Here is Jesus, on for Mahrez. Now City have that focal point.
66 min: They could have been buried there though as Cancelo runs, runs, runs and then sees Sanchez beat his shot away. Seconds later a long-range skimmer from De Bruyne is also parried by the impressive keeper.
65 min: Since those three close shaves from City, Brighton have had a bit of a go at this.
64 min: You wanted strikers? I think you might get them for both sides soon – Jesus and Maupay are among those being readied on the side.
62 min: Oooh, and now they’re inches away, Bernardo centring tantalisingly from the left and Propper, on the stretch, just unable to get the studs that would divert it in! Like City, perhaps they’re craving a centre-forward option out there ...
60 min: And then they come close-ish to an equaliser, Mac Allister shooting a foot over from 20 yards. This ain’t dead yet ...
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59 min: Saying that, Mahrez should make it safe – he’s onside running onto a floated pass but slots across Sanchez and wide. Then a City flurry ... Gundogan is thwarted by Sanchez and then, from the rebound, Silva thuds the bar! Somehow Brighton survive!
58 min: Raheem Sterling is warming up. Will City freshen things up from the bench? It’s pretty pedestrian out there, I must say.
55 min: Brighton work an overload on the right of the box and Propper’s volleyed cross is turned behind. Corner for the visitors. It needs to be better than Trossard’s first-half effort, and is ... resulting in a Propper volley from 25 yards that thuds straight into Ederson’s midriff.
54 min: Foden goes down in the box after a tangle with Veltman, who put an arm out ... quick VAR check and the decision is “no penalty”.
53 min: Such is the fixture pileup that I can’t really see City going hell for leather with this. They’ll want to stop Brighton, who are knocking it about as we speak, getting a head of steam up but will surely conserve energy where they can.
50 min: From a City corner, Webster heads away and a subsequent Foden volley is blocked. I think it was going well wide anyway.
49 min: City try to build but are forced all the way back to Ederson. Their lack of a focal point in attack has shown at times – but hey, they’re still winning.
48 min: Brighton have changed to a back four, it seems, so perhaps they wish to fan out a bit more now.
47 min: Early pressure from Brighton, Trossard turning in the box but seeing his ball defended, before Ederson claims Mac Allister’s drilled cross.
Peeeeeep!
I promised you a second half, and a second half is what we have!
Don’t go anywhere, the second half is but minutes away. I sense we are on for that regulation two-zero, but I’ve been wrong before.
8 & 14 - Phil Foden is now Manchester City's highest goalscorer in all competitions this season (8), while no Premier League player has more assists in all comps than Kevin De Bruyne (14). Citizens. #MCIBHA
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 13, 2021
It’s really happening for Foden now, isn’t it? And as for that from De Bruyne ...
News from our mutual friend Paul Doyle that Aston Villa have asked for their game with Everton to be postponed:
Half-time: Man City 1-0 Brighton
Brighton were a minute or so from being very content with that half, in which Robert Sanchez had only been bothered a couple of times and they’d had one or two looks themselves. But City can wreck your dreams at any moment, as Foden has just shown!
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Goal! Man City 1-0 Brighton (Foden 44)
Now that’s the time to break the deadlock! And it’s a lovely goal from Foden, who takes a De Bruyne pass in his stride and sashays into the left side of the box, cutting a *delightful* finish inside Sanchez’s near post. It almost seemed casual, and pretty much rolled in, but that was a marvellously cute strike.
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43 min: Burn does superbly to stop Cancelo wriggling in after fine play from Mahrez. It’s another City corner, but Foden’s cross is met by Webster.
41 min: Trossard nearly pays a very heavy price for that, as Ederson immediately starts a break that results in De Bruyne stinging Sanchez’s palms from an angle! Gundogan shoots wide from the resulting corner.
40 min: Now Brighton win a corner though, and here’s a chance to load the box with height. Trossard swings it in from the left ... but it’s poor and Ederson collects.
I'd like to see any free-kick moved back at the discretion of the taker - as in rugby @NickAmes82 - the wall stays where the line is sprayed. It would make up and down a little easier, strengthen the sanction and give us more spectacular goals. What's not to like?
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) January 13, 2021
Why not? Those indirect ones for backpasses rarely come to much as it is.
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37 min: Dunk chests a dangerous Foden cross away. We’re now firmly in attack v defence territory after that fairly positive Brighton start.
36 min: “Sometimes handling a backpass is the best option, when the other is making a terrible hack at it and potentially missing it completely, leaving it to roll into the net for an OG,” suggests Graeme Thorn. True, though you’d want to back yourself to smack it away.
In the meantime, Bernardo (the Brighton one) is very alert at the back post to sweep a De Bruyne cross behind. A sniffing centre-forward might have converted that! The pressure is mounting from City though and a couple more corners come to little.
34 min: City win a couple of corners but, as they look to change the angle with the second one, Rodri is flagged offside.
32 min: Webster repels another De Bruyne shot with his head after extensive probing from City. Brighton then try to break but it comes to nothing. The visitors’ defensive shape remains very sound.
30 min: It takes fully two minutes to set the free-kick up and make sure the wall are behaving. Then De Bruyne has a blast and, lo, it’s blocked bravely by Mac Allister.
28 min: Danger here – and a rarity – City have an indirect free-kick in the box after Webster stretches to knock a through pass back Sanchez and the keeper picks it up. Ooops. Can City take advantage? It’s about 12 yards out and to the left of centre ...
27 min: Now Mahrez drifts onto a slick, lofted De Bruyne pass but can’t get decent purchase on his attempted volley. City aren’t finding much of a way through just yet. At the other end Dias has to divert a Tau cutback away after the forward burns past Zinchenko.
24 min: Mahrez teases in a delightful ball from the right, almost undefendable really, and Gundogan nudges it back across goal but Veltman is able to hack away.
22 min: “Wait, that guy’s surname is Mac Allister? Is his first name G. Ary?” queries Drew of the lively young Argentinian.
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20 min: City win the game’s first corner, but nothing results.
19 min: Good moment from Brighton, with Mac Allister – impressive so far – feeding the scampering Trossard, who enters the box and looks to fade one into the far corner. It’s a yard or so wide, but Ederson was troubled enough to dive.
17 min: That was evidence that City can, and doubtless will again, carve Brighton open but they’re yet to play with any sustained tempo.
14 min: Big chance for City there, though, as a lovely swerve from Gundogan gives him space to play De Bruyne in. De Bruyne is about eight yards out and tries to place the ball past Sanchez, but the big keeper stands up really well and blocks with a leg.
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13 min: Brighton break well again, and Trossard bamboozles Stones before dinking a cross over from the left. It’s above everyone and then Veltman, running in late at an angle, lashes wildly off target. But the visitors have started well.
12 min: Trossard is back on after taking treatment for a mild knock. Then Mac Allister does well and gets Brighton up the pitch from his own half, which they’ve managed to do a few times so far.
11 min: “Brighton’s Graham Potter has got the look of a bass player in an indie rock band,” writes Peter Oh. Every time I see him I picture him with a four-string slung around his shoulder, laying down a fat groove to a catchy mid-tempo tune. Pep Guardiola strikes me as the moody front man, grasping the mic with white-knuckled intensity as he howls revolutionary lyrics about possession.
9 min: Frustration for Brighton, as a simple flick on halfway sends Propper into acres of space in the City half and with home defenders outnumbered. It’s a good position but he wastes the final ball, which is aimed tamely towards the box and cleared.
7 min: Zinchenko has a first-time shot blocked after Foden nods a ball back from the byline – that’s the first real moment of danger from either side.
6 min: Not much happening yet, in truth. Brighton look composed enough on the ball and are trying to play through the thirds, albeit to little avail. And it’s a similar story for City really.
4 min: City pass, pass, pass for a minute or so but then Gundogan can’t tame a Silva ball and runs it out beyond the byline.
Updated
2 min: Brighton try to make some early inroads via Tau on the right, but he’s snuffed out. Good number of players committed forward there though.
Peeeeeep! Away we go!
Brighton kick us off, shooting right to left. Contrary to my effort below, I think they’ll play with something we might call a 3-4-2-1. Mac Allister, Trossard and Tau will be the three more attacking players.
“Why is it that only 9s can be false?” asks a philosophical Phil Grey. “Couldn’t the defender on the right of a back 3 be considered a false 2, or an attack-minded right back a false 7, or a very defensive DM who slips into the back four a false 5?”
That’s one for Jonathan Wilson, I’m not touching that. Although it reminds me of the time I suggested to Arsène Wenger in all seriousness that Santi Cazorla was an “eight and a half” and he laughed in the mistaken impression I was making some sort of football positions-based joke.
The teams are coming out onto the pitch. Let’s see what they offer us today. Brighton are well coached and even with this makeshift team I can’t see them getting a thrashing, but it does feel like a pretty regulation 2-0 to City on the face of things.
Potter, who gives little away to the media, describes a “challenging” recent period. Brighton’s last league win was on 21 November at Villa.
Guardiola has always been very nice about Graham Potter and Brighton. I remember him falling over himself to praise them after last season’s fixture, which I covered at the Etihad. It did feel a bit much at the time given City had won 4-0, a bit like when Pep pronounces himself delighted with hefty defeats and so forth. But Brighton do play good, structured stuff. They just lack devilment in the final third and I don’t really know where it’ll come from today.
City fans: confident you’re over the hump and in this title race for the long haul? It was interesting to see Guardiola say their improvement owes in part to running *less* – not always what we hear in these days of hell-for-leather pressing.
Look away now, blue half of Manchester – this is how Marcus Christenson rates Man United’s title hopefuls against their decorated predecessors:
The self-isolating Sergio Aguero is among those absent for City, although Raheem Sterling is back on the bench. Looks like Pep Guardiola is going essentially strikerless to begin with ...
So are Brighton, by the looks of it, although it’s hard to tell exactly how they will line up. It’s a pretty defensive-looking side from Graham Potter and they miss Yves Bissouma, their influential midfielder, through suspension. Percy Tau, back from his loan at Anderlecht, may be the most advanced member of Brighton’s team – this will be the South African’s first start for Brighton, two and a half years after he signed.
Teams
Manchester City: Ederson; Cancelo, Dias, Stones, Zinchenko; Rodrigo, Gundogan; De Bruyne, Mahrez, Foden; Bernardo. Subs: Steffen, Walker, Sterling, Jesus, Torres, Mendy, Fernandinho, Harwood-Bellis, Mbete.
Brighton: Sanchez; Veltman, Webster, Dunk, Burn; Trossard, White, Propper, Bernardo; Mac Allister; Tau. Subs: Walton, Maupay, Gross, March, Zeqiri, Sanders, Jenks, Weir, Khadra.
Hello
What’s that coming over the hill? It’s Manchester City. Not Manchester United, they’ve already scaled the summit and are peering down on everyone else. But City are on quietly excellent form, winning their last six games in all competitions and starting to look like the side that once surgically dissected all who crossed their pat. Win tonight and they will be four points off the top, with a further game in hand. Could we be in for a three-horse title race when things all shake down?
Brighton will have something to say about that tonight, although we’ll see how much. While City are on a roll, Graham Potter’s men can’t buy a win – although they have drawn four of their last five top-flight outings and recovered well from 3-1 down against Wolves last time out. They were taken the distance by Newport in the FA Cup on Sunday night, though, despite fielding a strong side. So will they take the hit here and eye other battles in their quest to move away from the relegation question, or will they have a real go?
We will soon find out! Kick-off is at 6pm UK time – so stay close and get your emails/tweets in to the addresses above.
