Haaland and Alvarez on target as City secure victory over Brighton

• Manchester City returned to winning ways on Saturday by beating Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 at Etihad Stadium
• Pep Guardiola’s side have set a Premier League record of 21 consecutive home wins and are on top of the table with 21 points from nine matches

Manchester City returned to winning ways on Saturday by beating Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 at Etihad Stadium. Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland gave City a two-goal lead in the first half before Ansu Fati pulled one back for the Seagulls in the second half.

Despite City playing with ten men after Manuel Akanji was sent off in the last minutes of the game, Brighton could not find the leveller.

Julian Alvarez runs to celebrate with Phil Foden after scoring the opening goal against Brighton. Photo/ Goal.com.

Pep Guardiola‘s side have set a Premier League record of 21 consecutive home wins and are on top of the table with 21 points from nine matches. On the other hand, Brighton have dropped to seventh.

Speaking after his side’s victory over Brighton, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admitted that his side suffered in the last 20 minutes while giving credit to Roberto de Zerbi.

“We suffered for 20 minutes and at the end there was a period that we were composed. After defeats it was important performance. The credit I give to (Brighton manager) Roberto (de Zerbi), they were exceptional. I give credit to the team for victory.” Reuters quotes Pep Guardiola.

How The Game Unfolded

A clash between two of the finest tacticians in the Premier League right now had many talking in the build-up to the fixture.

Rodri’s return was always likely to bring about a response from City’s back-to-back league defeats but it was Doku whose selection proved more pivotal. The 21-year-old was again preferred over Jack Grealish and his trickery and pace turned out to be a thorn in Brighton’s flesh. He tormented James Milner badly such that the 37-year-old was taken off at half-time.

City opened the scoring after seven minutes of play and it was Doku’s teasing run down the left that led to Julian Alvarez’s goal. Guardiola was impressed with the Belgian’s performance, describing him as an exceptional winger after the match.

Erling Haaland doubled Manchester City’s lead in the 20th minute after the visitors were caught in possession in their own half. Haaland had gone almost a month without scoring for City but he needed no second invitation to end the dry spell on Saturday. It was his 45th goal in 44 Premier League matches.

Erling Haaland returned to scoring ways as Manchester City beat Brighton 2-1. Photo/ REDACAOEMCAMPO.

City should have added a third goal but moments after Alvarez’s effort to score from near the halfway line Ansu Fati pulled one back for Brighton. Kaoru Mitoma dribbled into City’s box before Manuel Akanji’s poor clearance landed on Fati who made no mistake to score his second goal in England.

It was a difficult 20 minutes for City afterwards as Brighton searched for the equalizer. Things even got worse for them when Akanji was sent off after receiving a second yellow card in stoppage time. However, City held on to a narrow 2-1 win. Akanji will miss next week’s Manchester derby.