For Brighton, the prospect of facing Manchester City in search of their first league victory of the season certainly wasn’t an attractive one, and it looked even less attractive when Omar Marmoush sent Erling Haaland racing through on goal inside the opening 10 minutes, but a tame effort by the Norwegian’s lofty standards was easily palmed away by Bart Verbruggen.
The Seagulls were unmoved by that potential early setback and carved out a clear-cut chance of their own soon after. Yet, in eerily similar circumstances to Haaland, Kaoru Mitoma failed to capitalise when he broke through one-on-one with James Trafford, watching on with angst as the City stopper turned the ball around the post.
Haaland was a constant thorn in Brighton’s side throughout the first half, but beating Verbruggen was proving to be problematic, as the Norwegian again found out midway through the opening 45, when he climbed highest to power Rayan Ait-Nouri’s cross goalwards at the far post, but a fine one-handed save again kept him at bay.
You can’t keep a good man down, though, particularly on his 100th PL appearance, and Haaland’s goal duly arrived soon after the half-hour mark. In typical Haaland fashion, he was quickest to react to a loose ball inside the area, prodding home into the corner to fire City into a lead that they were good value for.
City were unrelenting at times, and continued their assault after the break, creating a gilt-edged chance to double their lead within minutes of the restart, but the outstretched leg of Oscar Bobb could only turn Marmoush’s delivery wide at the far post.
His miss almost looked costly when Yankuba Minteh broke clear instantly up the other end and tested the reflexes of Trafford.
VAR has been at the heart of many a debate this weekend, but there was no disputing Matheus Nunes’ handball inside the area. Former Cityzen James Milner assumed responsibility from the spot, stepping forward to send Trafford the wrong way from 12 yards and become the oldest PL penalty scorer in history.
A visibly disgruntled Pep Guardiola was growing more frustrated on the touchline as it was Brighton doing most of the late running for a winner, testing Trafford through Brajan Gruda and Jan Paul van Hecke as they probed for a killer blow.
Their pressure eventually told in the 89th minute when Gruda broke clear on goal, retained his composure to round Trafford and roll into an empty net to secure their first three points of the season.
A crestfallen Guardiola was left scratching his head as to how City had surrendered a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 in successive seasons at the AMEX Stadium.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Brajan Gruda (Brighton)
Key stats
- James Milner is the oldest player to score a penalty in Premier League history (39 years, 239 days), and the second oldest to score overall in the competition behind Teddy Sheringham (40y, 268d)
- Brajan Gruda has been involved in five goals in his last eight Premier League appearances (2 goals, 3 assists), despite starting just two of those matches
- Erling Haaland is the first player to score on his 100th Premier League appearance for Manchester City since Riyad Mahrez in December 2021 vs Leeds United
