Full Time
Brighton won 1-0 at the Etihad in Matchweek 9, Yasin Ayari scoring in the 11th minute from a deflected effort, and then watched Bart Verbruggen make seven saves to keep Manchester City out. It is City's second straight league defeat, which is not a sentence you often get to write about Pep Guardiola's side. Brighton go to 19 points and stay 3rd, within two points of both City and Arsenal, who sit on 21 apiece. Brighton fans are entitled to enjoy this one a lot.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Manchester City sit top of the table on 21 points after eight games, level with Arsenal and ahead only on goal difference. Win and they stay in front; slip up and Arsenal take over the top spot without having to do anything clever. Brighton are third on 16, so a win would keep them firmly in the chasing pack and make the top-four talk very real.
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2These two met in the Carabao Cup at the Etihad on Wednesday night, so this is a rematch of a game from three days ago. Previews had Brighton as the pick that night, which tells you City are not the only ones who think this is a proper fixture. If you want to sound informed, ask a City fan how they feel about playing the same opponent twice in one week.
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3Player to watch: Fabian Hürzeler, though he's the manager rather than a player. Brighton have scored 21 league goals in eight games, only one fewer than City, with a young manager who is not remotely scared of the Etihad. Say that his side will happily trade punches with Pep Guardiola's and you will sound like you've watched every game.
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4The subplot is Brighton's attack against City's defence. City have conceded eight goals in eight games, and so have Brighton, which is the sort of stat that suggests this won't be a quiet afternoon. No confirmed team news was available at time of writing, so check the line-ups an hour before kick-off, because one injury could change the whole picture.
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5The hook: this is first against third, and the two sides have scored 43 goals between them already. Brighton have lost only two league games all season. City have lost one. If you only watch one game this weekend, this is the one where both teams actually want the ball.
Team Talking Points
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1City have pulled off a genuinely weird piece of history: they won their first seven league games, then lost the next three. According to Sky Sports, no top-flight team had done that in 122 years. Mention it and a City fan will tell you it's a blip. Their face will tell you they're not entirely sure.
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2The latest defeat was a 3-1 loss at Nottingham Forest last Saturday. Former City academy striker Liam Delap scored twice against his old club, which is football's favourite way of being cruel. City now spend the international break six points behind leaders Arsenal.
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3Enzo Maresca is the man in charge now. He was blunt after Forest, saying the first half 'was not good enough' and calling the second and third goals 'copy and paste'. When a manager starts describing goals like a computer error, the defending was probably bad.
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4There's an injury worry too. Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol, two first-choice centre-backs, both went off at half-time at Forest with knocks. Ask a City fan whether the pair will be fit after the break and you'll sound like you've been reading the medical updates.
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5Then there's the elephant in the room. At the end of September an independent commission found City guilty of 114 of the famous 115 Premier League charges over their finances. The club is appealing and nobody knows the punishment yet. Raise it carefully, or better still, let them raise it.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Seven straight wins, then three straight defeats. City have basically done a whole season's mood swings before Bonfire Night.
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Avoid saying
"Just give it to Haaland and they'll be fine." They did give it to Haaland at Forest, and his shot got cleared off the line. City's problem right now is the defending, and any fan will tell you so at length.
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1Brighton are second in the Premier League going into the international break, with 22 points from 10 games. They've also got the best goal difference in the division at +19 – better even than leaders Arsenal's +10. Drop that stat and you'll sound like you've been reading the small print.
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2Last weekend they beat Brentford 2-0 at the Amex. Diego Gómez opened the scoring with a long-range screamer on his weaker foot, and Pascal Gross – back at the club and still pinging them in – added a penalty just before half-time.
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3The defence is the quiet story. That was their seventh clean sheet of the season and their fourth in five home league games. For a team usually praised for pretty football, they've become surprisingly hard to score against.
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4Fabian Hurzeler, still one of the youngest managers in the league, is having the best spell of his time at the club. Earlier in the season Brighton also thrashed newly promoted Coventry 5-0 – a result that set the tone for the whole autumn.
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5Next up is a trip to Hull on Sunday 22 November, then the fixtures get tougher. Brighton fans are cautiously excited – being five points behind Arsenal in second is uncharted territory, so let them enjoy it without saying the words 'title race' too loudly.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Best goal difference in the league and seven clean sheets already – Brighton aren't just the pretty-football side any more, they're properly hard to beat.
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Avoid saying
"Brighton always sell their best players, they'll fall away" – yes, they sell well, and yet here they are second in the table. It's the business model working, not a weakness, and Brighton fans are very tired of explaining that.