Brighton & Hove Albion picked up a first-ever away win against Manchester City, as they ground out a 1-0 success at the Etihad Stadium, courtesy of Yasin Ayari’s first-half goal.
These sides were already well acquainted with each other after a midweek meeting in the Carabao Cup, so there was little by way of a feeling-out process in the opening stages here.
It was surprising though to see that it was Brighton taking the game to City, and their early endeavour was rewarded after just 11 minutes when Maxim De Cuyper kept Diego Gomez’s cross alive, and Yasin Ayari was on hand to prod home the opener.
City were never likely to take that lying down and ought to have hit back 10 minutes later when Iliman Ndiaye was left unmarked inside the Brighton box but could only head inches wide of the target.
The same man came close again not too long after, when one of his customary mazy runs culminated in him squeezing between two Seagulls defenders and firing an effort straight into the hands of a grateful Bart Verbruggen.
The Brighton stopper had Lewis Dunk to thank for not picking the ball out of the back of his net before the break as, after some terrific wing work from Jeremy Doku saw him tee up Erling Haaland, a terrific block from Dunk denied the Norwegian a certain goal.
Brighton’s skipper was at it again before the break too, producing another fine block to once more deny Haaland, who was beginning to cut a frustrated figure.
Enzo Maresca’s men were almost left to rue those misses within five minutes of the restart when, after being teed up perfectly by Ayari, the unmarked De Cuyper wildly blazed over at the far post.
Introducing Rayan Cherki from the bench was an admission from Maresca that things weren’t quite working for his side, and almost made an immediate impact when he found Enzo Fernandez inside the area before the Argentine dragged a left-footed effort narrowly wide.
And even when City did manage to get an effort on target through Matheus Nunes, Verbruggen was on hand to produce a fine stop to keep him at bay.
It wasn’t for want of trying that City couldn’t get back into the game, as Maresca made yet another late attacking change in bringing on Phil Foden for Josko Gvardiol, but no matter how many balls the hosts slung into the area, they couldn’t get one to drop for them.
Their quest for an equaliser ultimately proved unsuccessful as they slumped to a first Premier League defeat in a Saturday 3pm kick-off since October 2021, while three points for Brighton are another high point in their best-ever Premier League start.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bart Verbruggen (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore