Manchester City bounced back and returned to their winning form with a easy 2-1 win against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Julian Alvarez was the first to score early on, followed by Erling Haaland who broke his goal drought with a strong shot after 18 minutes.
Brighton managed to score a goal in the second half with substitute Ansu Fati, making it the 18th consecutive away game where Roberto De Zerbi’s team has scored.
However, despite this effort, it was not sufficient to mount a comeback against the reigning champions. The game concluded with the champions being reduced to ten men after Manuel Akanji was sent off in stoppage time.
Jeremy Doku missed narrowly in the beginning, but it did not take City long to score their first goal. The Belgian winger passed the ball back to Alvarez, who was unmarked in the penalty area, and his slightly mishit shot found the back of the net, giving City the lead in just seven minutes.Ten minutes later, Haaland scored his second goal after receiving a loose pass from Carlos Baleba and shooting from the edge of the penalty area.
Brighton was able to halt their opponents’ dominant performance but made minimal offensive progress, as City controlled the ball for almost 70% of the match and effortlessly maneuvered around the Brighton players, making it seem like a practice session during the first half.
Despite the fact that City was dominating the game, Brighton had the opportunity to score a goal in the early stages of the second half. Pascal Gross managed to locate a small gap within the penalty area, but he struggled to maintain stability and ultimately missed the target with his shot.
Substitute goalkeeper Stefan Ortega performed admirably in stopping a rare opportunity for Kaoru Mitoma in the middle of the second half.
However, Brighton managed to score a goal thanks to substitute Fati, who tapped the ball into the net amidst some chaos in the penalty box. Brighton appeared more energetic following the goal, but they were unable to discover another path to score. Nonetheless, their attacking efforts caused Akanji to receive a second yellow card during stoppage time.