City hold off spirited Brighton fightback to return to top of table

Early goals from Haaland and Alvarez set champions on their way only for visitors to mount second-half comeback before falling short

TRUE BLUES: Manchester City's Julian Alvarez (second right) celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Pic: Tim Goode/PA Wire

Manchester City 2 Brighton 1 

Manchester City ended their mini-crisis with a hard-earned win but had to survive a tense finish after a second half fight back by Brighton.

Pep Guardiola and Roberto De Zerbi enjoyed a bit of a love-in in the build-up to the game praising the coaching qualities of each other.

But once the whistle went there was no sentiment from City as they put an early stranglehold on the game, racing into a 2-0 lead within 19 minutes with goals from Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland.

City looked determined to get back to winning ways after three defeats in their previous four games and at that stage it looked a case of how many they would score.

But they paid the price for easing their collective foot off the pedal with Brighton fighting back well to make a game of it after the break when substitute Ansu Fati put the game in the balance by pulling one back.

City had to hang on as they finished the game with only 10 players when defender Manuel Akanji was dismissed for a second caution.

Alvarez fired City ahead after only seven minutes. Jeremy Doku had beaten Pascal Gross and cut the ball back from the byline. It didn't look the the cleanest strike by Alvarez but it was enough to beat Jason Steele.

Brighton lost Danny Welbeck to injury, sending on Evan Ferguson, but their afternoon got worse when Haaland ended a three-game run without a goal by adding City's second that stemmed from a Brighton throw-in.

Bernardo Silva pressured Carlos Baleba into a mistake and the ball dropped to Haaland who had only one thing on his mind as he took the ball on before rifling a powerful left foot shot into the corner of the net.

Doku was giving James Milner a torrid time and went close to adding a third with a curling shot. It was no surprise when veteran Milner was replaced at the break by Joel Veltman.

Brighton had more of the ball in the second half and Pascal Gross should have done better when he scuffed a decent chance wide.

City had chances to increase their lead. Alvarez went close with a free-kick while Steele made an acrobatic save from Phil Foden's angle shot and also denied Haaland a second, saving the Norwegian's shot with his legs.

But Brighton kept plugging away. Mitoma fired straight at the advancing Otega after being put clean through but made amends by setting up Fati for his 74th minute goal.

Lewis Dunk cleared off when Mitoma made a fine run past Kyle Walker and when he cut the ball back Manuel Akanji's clearance fell to sub Fati who fired home from 10 yards to set up a tense finish.

Man City (4-2-3-1): Ortega 7; Walker 7, Stones 8 (Dias 74, 5), Akanji 7 (Ake 90), Gvardiol 7; Silva 7, Rodri 7; Foden 8, Álvarez 7, Doku 8 (Grealish 74, 6); Haaland 7. Subs not used: Phillips, Kovacic, Gómez, Nunes, Ederson, Lewis.

Brighton (4-2-3-1): Steele 6; Milner 5 (Veltman 46, 6), Dunk 7, Julio 6, March 5 (Van HEcke 90); Baleba 5 (Gilmour 65,6), Gross 6; Adingra 5, Welbeck 4 (Ferguson 16, 6), Mitoma 7; Pedro 5 (Fati 65, 7).Subs not used: Webster, Dahoud, Lallana.

Referee: Robert Jones