Manchester City 0-1 Brighton: Ayari completes swift revenge as Maresca’s City stumble again
A single touch in the 11th minute was enough to send Brighton home with three points, three days after they were knocked out of the League Cup on penalties at the same ground
Dr. Talal Othman, General Manager — GCC Sport
Some matches are settled by genius; others by memory. Brighton arrived at the Etihad carrying a fresh wound from midweek, when Manchester City dumped them out of the League Cup on penalties, Yasin Ayari among those who failed from the spot in the fourth round. Three days later the Swede returned to the same stage and wrote the ending he wanted. Fabian Hürzeler’s side left with a 1-0 win; Enzo Maresca’s left with a second successive league defeat.
The goal, on 11 minutes, was less masterpiece than punishment. Diego Gómez broke down the right and drilled a low cross that Matheus Nunes failed to clear cleanly. The ball struck the onrushing Maxim De Cuyper and dropped kindly for Ayari on the edge of the six-yard box, who rolled it past Gianluigi Donnarumma into a virtually empty net. His third of the season, and by some distance the most valuable.
What followed was City in their more troubled mode: possession without teeth. The hosts finished the first half with 55% of the ball and seven shots, only one on target, while Brighton managed three attempts, two of them on target. The numbers tell the story of a side circling the box like someone feeling for a door in a smooth wall, and another that knew exactly when to knock.
Iliman Ndiaye went close when he stole a march on Olivier Boscagli and burst into the area from the right, but his powerful effort was gathered by Bart Verbruggen. Erling Haaland came nearest to an equaliser on another occasion, only to find the Dutch goalkeeper once again the final barrier in one of his finest evenings in a Brighton shirt.
There was tension too. VAR checked three separate handball claims in Brighton’s area, and none produced a penalty. Three lifelines offered and withdrawn, as though the afternoon itself was telling the home side: not today.
Brighton, by contrast, played like a grown-up team. A back line marshalled by Lewis Dunk and Luka Vušković absorbed the pressure without panic, while Pascal Gross and Chema Andrés dictated the tempo whenever their side needed to breathe. The victory extends Brighton’s unbeaten run against City to five head-to-head meetings and cuts the gap between the two clubs to two points.
Maresca had hoped to move three points clear of Arsenal before their Sunday fixture, having lost 2-1 at Aston Villa last time out. He leaves empty-handed, with a question that will follow him all week: how does a squad this rich become so sterile against an organised defence?
Line-ups
Manchester City: Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Khusanov, Gvardiol; Anderson, Bouaddi, Enzo; Doku, Ndiaye, Haaland.
Brighton (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Costinha, Dunk, Vušković, Boscagli; Gross, Chema Andrés; Diego Gómez, Ayari, De Cuyper; Kostoulas.
Goal: Yasin Ayari (11) — Brighton
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester | Premier League, Round 9
