Key events
Brighton had only one shot in that half, the strike by Mitoma that brought a fine save from Trafford. That, according to Sky, is the fewest shots Brighton have had in a first half at home for ten years.
HALF-TIME! Brighton 0-1 Man City
So City hold onto their lead, and they deserve it. Since Haaland clicked into gear, after about 25 minutes, they have been much the better team. Brighton have found a few openings, but they will need to be far more precise in the final third.
45+3 min Brighton could be level! Minteh races away down the right, skips past Ait-Nouri’s high boot and gets his cross in, but it’s behind the onrushing Welbeck. Minteh then goes down with a head injury, which happily seems to be nothing serious.
News from elsewhere: VAR change at Anfield
A story from my colleague Andy Martin …
“Michael Salisbury has been stood down as VAR official for today’s Premier League clash between Liverpool and Arsenal.
“John Brooks will instead be in charge at Stockley Park after Salisbury’s controversial involvement in an incident during Saturday’s game between Chelsea and Fulham at Stamford Bridge.
“He intervened to ask match referee Rob Jones to go to the pitchside monitor after Fulham midfielder Josh King had scored 21 minutes into the game, and ultimately the goal was chalked off when team-mate Rodrigo Muniz was adjudged to have stepped on Trevoh Chalobah during the build-up despite minimal contact.
“It is understood the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has acknowledged that the decision was an error and the incident did not meet the high bar for intervention as a clear and obvious error, and that referees’ boss Howard Webb has been in touch with Fulham.”
45 min There will be three more minutes. The delay early on, for Gomez’s injury, was about that long.
43 min Near-calamity! Verbruggen, receiving a poor back pass, is inches away from being hunted down by Haaland. He just gets the ball away in time, but only to another black shirt. Ait-Nouri ends up on the byline, whipping in a fine low cross that doesn’t quite find a team-mate.
40 min As things stand, City are fifth, level with Liverpool on points (six) and goal difference (+3), but behind them on goals scored (five against seven). And poor old Brighton are still 18th.
38 min City threaten again as Minteh loses the ball in their half. Marmoush almost gets away but he stays in the middle, where Brighton have about five players, when the ball surely needed to go wide.
37 min This is Haaland’s 100th Premier League game, and that’s his 88th goal – a record. Against Brighton, he has six in six.
The goal was assisted by Marmoush but created by Bobb – and an error or two. Bobb, at inside-right, found Marmoush, at inside-left. He seemed to lose the ball, the defenders had a chance to poke it away, but they fluffed it, allowing Marmoush to have another go and play the shortest of through balls. Haaland raced onto it and passed into the corner.
GOAL! Brighton 0-1 Man City (Haaland 33)
He’s found those shooting boots!
31 min Right on cue, Brighton have a glimmer in the City box. A cross from the left finds Minteh in acres near the penalty spot, and he’s so surprised that he’s not sure what to do about it. Instead of taking a shot, he plays a dinky pass to nobody.
30 min There’s a pause as Rodri gets a blow to the head, which doesn’t look too serious. This game has begun to go as you might have expected: City having two-thirds of the ball and most of the attempts on goal (5/6), but Brighton threatening on the break.
28 min City win their first corner. It’s a good one, swung in by Reijnders, and well headed away by Van Hecke.
26 min Save! Verbruggen from Haaland, whose first header of the day is a lot sharper than his two shots so far. Ait-Nouri sends him a gorgeous backspun cross and Haaland meets it well, but Verbruggen stands tall.
An urgent question has come in about Hürzeler. “Why,” asks Rob, “is he dressed like Dr No??”
25 min Half-chance for Haaland! Left foot, again, and this time he screws the ball wide. Has he left his shooting boots at home?
22 min Another fine break from Brighton, launched by a neat interception from De Cuyper at left-back. A few neat passes and Welbeck is spraying the ball to the right wing, where Minteh picks a less neat option, asking too much of the overlapping Veltman.
20 min Trafford celebrates his save by sending a long ball to Marmoush, who can’t quite latch onto it.
19 min Save! Brighton stage a lovely counter as Welbeck pokes the ball through to Mitoma. He shakes off a defender and hits a decent shot, which Trafford does well to push round the post.
17 min The ball reaches Trafford in the sweeper-keeper zone. He thinks about going long again, then changes his mind and passes to Rodri, who is hovering like a helicopter parent.
15 min The first yellow card goes to Jan Paul van Hecke, who first gives Haaland a shove, then, as if instantly fired up, hurls himself into a crowd of players.
14 min Both teams have been sloppy, by their high standards of stewardship. And only Haaland has had a sniff of a chance.
13 min Another ambitious ball from Mitima, another stretch too far for Minteh. This one was a cross, struck with the outside of the right boot, but overhit.
11 min The first sign of a wobble at the back for City. Brighton press them, as you would after last weekend, and Trafford ends up resorting to a long ball, which he slices.
9 min Chance! Missed by Erling Haaland, who goes clean through, gets a left-foot shot away – and sends it dribbling towards Verbruggen.
8 min Brighton steal the ball in midfield and Mitoma hits an ambitious through ball for Minteh, who is quick but not quick enough to keep it in.
7 min Gomez is up and walking.
3 min The first embarrassment involved in playing out from the back comes from Lewis Dunk, who passes straight into touch. Brighton soon win the ball back through Welbeck, who tries to send Gomez away, only for a crunching tackle to come in from Reijnders. As Gomez stays down, Fabian Hürzeler tries to persuade the fourth official that the clash should be reviewed for reckless play. He doesn’t succeed.
2 min City get busy down their left flank with Ait-Nouri and Marmoush playing tiki-taka. Then they make their way over to the right where Bobb and Nunes follow suit.
1 min City kick off and go back to Trafford, who jinks past thre onrushing Gomez … but then hoofs the ball to Bart Verbruggen.
Fun fact! Danny Welbeck is facing Man City for the 22nd time today and looking for his first goal. Maybe he just needs to pretend they’re Man United.
Back at the Amex, the teams stroll out onto the field. Brighton is bright and sunny.
The first big game of the day has finished … goalless. Here’s Daniel Harris.
The first email of the day comes from Eric Peterson, who is more interested in the other 2pm game. “The fixture schedule for today works out nicely,” he reckons. “The most compelling thing about the other game being played at this time has nothing to do with what happens during it. The prospect for postgame chaos around whichever team loses Nottingham Forest v West Ham is more compelling, be it Evangelos Marinakis venting at Nuno Espirito Santo venting at Edu, or West Ham’s travelling support venting at their team. We can watch this one, enjoy it, and then switch streams for real entertainment.”
Rodri ‘maybe not for 90’
Pep Guardiola has been talking to Sky. The first question, naturally, is about Rodri. “He’s vital,” Pep murmurs, “everybody knows that… He played some minutes against Spurs [about 20, including added time], so maybe not for 90 [today].”
The second question is about goalies. Asked if he now has two No 1s, Pep says it’s more a case of giving Trafford the first part of the season, up to the international break that starts tonight. “And then we’ll see.” Sounds as if Ederson will be back for the Manchester derby in a fortnight’s time.
Teams in full
Brighton (probable 4-2-3-1) Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, De Cuyper; Baleba, Hinshelwood; Minteh, Gomez, Mitoma; Welbeck.
Subs: Steele, Coppola, Boscagli, Kadioglu, Gruda, Milner, Ayari, O’Riley, Rutter.
Manchester City (possible 4-1-4-1) Trafford; Nunes, Stones, Khusanov, Ait-Nouri; Rodri; Silva, Bobb, Reijnders, Marmoush; Haaland.
Subs: Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Gonzalez, Gundogan, O’Reilly, Doku.
Referee Darren England. VAR Paul Tierney.
Teams in brief: Rodri starts, Trafford retained
Rodri, who came on as a sub last weekend, makes his first start for nearly a year. That will be music to the ears of City fans, or anyone who admires a bit of midfield mastery.
Pep Guardiola makes three more changes from the XI beaten by Spurs, bringing in Matheus Nunes and Abdukodir Khusanov at the back, plus the captain, Bernardo Silva, in midfield. Rico Lewis and Ruben Dias drop to the bench, while Rayan Cherki is injured. In goal, the story is there isn’t a change: James Trafford retains Pep’s faith after his jitters against Spurs, so Ederson has to bide his time on the bench.
For Brighton, Fabian Hürzeler makes three changes from the XI that lost to Everton. Joel Veltman replaces Mats Wieffer at right-back, and there are two changes in midfield, with Jack Hinshelwood and Diego Gomez coming in for Yasin Ayari and Matt O’Riley.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to what should be an intriguing battle. Two visionary managers, two elegant styles of play, two teams in transition … and only one good result apiece this season.
Man City walloped Wolves, only to lose at home to Spurs. Brighton let two points slip late on at home to Fulham, then lost at Everton’s shiny new stadium, and needed a visit to Oxford in the League Cup to find some form (and six goals). This is technically a bottom-half-of-the-table clash, with City 11th and Brighton 18th – but either can take the escalator to their usual level today. A win by two goals will put City in the top four, if only for a couple of hours, while a win of any kind will lift Brighton to 10th.
Pep Guardiola used to like to be beside the seaside, but last November he went to Bournemouth and Brighton on successive Saturdays and left City’s aura on the beach. After going 2-1 down at the Vitality Stadium, they led at the Amex for nearly an hour before Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley put them into their misery.
City’s galling season had a strange quirk to it. They were invincible in British Summer Time (P18 W14 D4), but mediocre from November to March (P20 W7 D4 L9). This year it’s still Summer Time and already the living is uneasy. After seeing Thomas Frank expose City’s inexperience last weekend, Fabian Hürzeler will surely fancy this. He has yet to lose to Pep: the game at the Etihad, just before the clocks went forward, finished 2-2.
Kick-off is at 2pm (BST, obviously) and I’ll be back soon with the teams.
