Pep Guardiola believes team spirit will help Manchester City get through a difficult period, but more than camaraderie alone will be required on this evidence. City endured a third consecutive draw to leave the leaders Arsenal, who have a game in hand, five points ahead and currently without a title challenger.
An Erling Haaland penalty gave City a platform they were unable to build on, failing to convert a plethora of chances in the second half. City let Brighton come back into the match and deservedly depart with a point thanks to Kaoru Mitoma.
“I love a lot, many, many good things but we didn’t score goals,” Guardiola said. “So many clear chances [missed], and it’s not just one player, two players, it’s all the people up front who played a lot. To score goals is part of your job.”
Amid a hectic schedule and with absentees aplenty, a sluggish and rhythmless City struggled to threaten a well-disciplined Brighton defence prior to the break. There was often a line of eight yellow shirts on the edge of the box, forcing City to work hard to assess the few gaps. Set pieces looked a promising route with Max Alleyne miscuing a header at the front post and Bernardo Silva firing straight at Bart Verbruggen from corners.
Injuries to Rúben Dias and Josko Gvardiol forced Alleyne to cut short a loan at Watford on Monday, and he was thrust into the starting lineup for a debut alongside Abdukodir Khusanov. The centre-backs acquitted themselves well against a progressive Brighton side, offering a positive on a difficult night.
Brighton tried to punish City’s back four on the counterattack. Ferdi Kadioglu went through one‑on‑one, only to be repelled by Gianluigi Donnarumma, while Georginio Rutter was stopped at the last second thanks to the speed of Khusanov, who is not much more experienced than his partner Alleyne.
Haaland’s penalty was a rare highlight in a first half of struggle for City. Jérémy Doku, City’s most dangerous attacking threat won it because his feet were too quick for Diego Gómez, and the striker sent Verbruggen the wrong way to collect his 150th goal for the club. The spot-kick created a brief distraction from the volatile disagreement between Guardiola and Fabian Hürzeler on the touchline, earning the former a caution for complaining that it took the referee a look at the monitor before awarding it.
If the opening 45 minutes were about Brighton’s defensive mentality, that was almost forgotten seconds after the break when a confused Yasin Ayari played the ball straight to Silva eight yards out. He shimmed and sent Verbruggen the wrong way but clipped the outside of a post when doubling the lead looked more likely, initiating a long list of failed conversions. It always felt like a second was needed for City but they could only muster six shots on target from 22 attempts. “We are not pleased how we gave away the chances, I think we did too many easy mistakes; too many mistakes where we invited them to score goals,” Hürzeler said.
At the other end it was too simple for Mitoma, who was allowed space on the edge of the box and a simple route to cut inside, before finding the corner from 18 yards. “We all know that he can make the difference in the game, that he can be a gamechanger,” Hürzeler said of Mitoma. “He’s still not at 100%, but we need to push him to 100%.”
Antoine Semenyo will be a City player by the end of the week, providing energy, physicality, skill and ability to score important goals. It will be a boost with Savinho ruled out for up to two months – another option for Guardiola, who now also has a chance to prepare long-throw routines. That variety will give City’s opponents more food for thought.
Once the equaliser went in, Brighton enjoyed a spell of dominance. They should have been ahead when Matheus Nunes missed a simple header; Mitoma capitalised and sent his cross for Gómez to tap home from a few yards out. The unmarked Paraguayan, however, conspired to send the ball behind him.
Guardiola sent on the remainder of his senior substitutes to inject much-needed energy. The prospect of Rayan Cherki joining the main event brought an element of fear to Brighton but he fired over from promising position. Haaland had a header cleared off the line and should have done far better after another Ayari error, this time passing to Cherki inside the box. It was laid off to Haaland in space but he wasted the chance of victory.
