Erling Haaland failed to take advantage of a number of opportunities to cut Manchester City’s gap with leaders Arsenal to three points. Despite taking the lead through a penalty at the Etihad, Brighton came back to force a 1-1 draw on Thursday morning, extending City’s series of draws to three consecutive matches in the top flight.
On another tense and frustrating night for City, they were left to rue numerous wasted chances in the final third as their hopes of reclaiming the Premier League title took a major blow. As expected, Pep Guardiola’s men controlled the game, dominated ball possession and confined Brighton to their own half. Jeremy Doku was a bright spot at the start of the match for the hosts, but at the back Seagulls a solid one that frustrated the Belgian and his teammates.
Erling Haaland suffered a similar fate, but he got a golden opportunity to end his goal-scoring woes. After a clever action from Doku, the winger took the ball into the box before cutting onto his right foot, baiting Diego Gomez into a foul. Despite Brighton’s protests, VAR intervened and City were awarded a penalty. Haaland calmly completed it and ended his goal drought in three matches.
There was a golden opportunity for City to widen their lead, but Bernardo Silva wasted a special opportunity to provide Haaland with a perfect pass for the second goal.
In the second half, Brighton made them pay dearly. Kaoru Mitoma’s clever movement opened up space on the edge of the penalty box, before curling a shot into the far corner of the goal.
City tried hard for the rest of the night, creating chance after chance, but Brighton kept denying them time and time again. Substitute Rayan Cherki served up the ball for Haaland to win the match late on, but the Norwegian’s shot went straight at the goalkeeper. It was another major blow for Guardiola’s men, who picked up their third consecutive draw and could potentially fall further behind in the title race.
GOAL Rating Manchester City players from Etihad…
