Manchester City 3-1 Brighton: Erling Haaland scores twice

Erling Haaland scored twice as Manchester City equalled a 91-year-old top-flight record in their 3-1 win against Brighton at the Etihad Stadium.

Haaland now has an incredible 17 goals in 11 league games – and 12 in his past five home games.

However, it was skipper Kevin de Bruyne who scored the best of the day, curling a superb shot into the top corner from 25 yards from Bernardo Silva’s inside pass.

It ended hopes of a Brighton comeback, which were raised after Leandro Trossard’s second-half effort beat Ederson from the corner of the area.

As it is, Brighton are still without a win under new boss Roberto de Zerbi, while Pep Guardiola’s side close to within a point of leaders Arsenal.

Haaland the scoring machine

After failing to score at Liverpool last weekend, Haaland was on – for him – a barren run of two hours without a goal.

His opener emphasised how much speed, power and awareness he has.

City keeper Ederson deserves huge credit for launching a long ball from his penalty area over the top of the Brighton defence.

Seagulls keeper Robert Sanchez dashed out of his goal but Haaland beat him to the ball and knocked it past him. Then he barged Adam Webster out of the way before rolling the ball into an empty net.

It meant the longest Haaland has gone without a Premier League goal remains 148 minutes.

Pretty soon, he had another as he drove home a penalty after the video assistant referee stopped play to rule Lewis Dunk had fouled Silva.

That goal was Guardiola’s 600th as City boss, a figure achieved in six and a half trophy-laden years that last week was marked by City being confirmed as ‘Club of the Year’ at the Ballon d’Or awards.

Not everything was perfect for City. Riyad Mahrez missed a glorious chance to put them three ahead just before Trossard’s goal after being set up by De Bruyne. The Algerian looked distinctly unimpressed as he was replaced by Phil Foden.

And Aymeric Laporte needed treatment for an injury in stoppage time that might make him a doubt for Tuesday’s Champions League trip to Borussia Dortmund.

Brighton complaints

There were Brighton grievances against both City’s first-half goals.

Webster was still complaining to referee Craig Pawson at the break that he was fouled by Haaland for the opening goal, while central defensive partner Dunk argued that Silva kicked him rather than the other way round for the penalty.

They were both debatable calls – and the type visiting teams need to go their way if they are to leave Etihad Stadium with anything.

It was pretty obvious Brighton’s fourth place in the table when Graham Potter left for Chelsea was a false one and there were some tough games to come.

Nevertheless, that is two points from five games in charge now for De Zerbi before Potter’s return to the Amex Stadium next Saturday.

There have been subtle tweaks to Potter’s team by the Italian, who wants Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister to get on the ball more often in midfield, but a familiar Brighton failing of not scoring enough goals is becoming evident once more.

Trossard’s goal fell into the speculative category. But he wasted Brighton’s best chance to equalise when he sprinted into the box and, instead of trying to find a centrally placed team-mate, attempted to beat Ederson from an impossible angle.

Player of the match

HaalandErling Haaland

Brighton & Hove Albion

1. Squad number11Player nameTrossard

2. Squad number2Player nameLamptey

3. Squad number30Player nameEstupiñán

4. Squad number25Player nameCaicedo

5. Squad number27Player nameGilmour

6. Squad number10Player nameMac Allister

7. Squad number18Player nameWelbeck

8. Squad number5Player nameDunk

9. Squad number7Player nameMarch

10. Squad number13Player nameGroß

11. Squad number14Player nameLallana

12. Squad number4Player nameWebster

13. Squad number34Player nameVeltman

14. Squad number1Player nameSánchez

15. Squad number19Player nameSarmiento

16. Squad number21Player nameUndav

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