Brighton's first win at the Etihad leaves them third, two points behind a Manchester City side that has now lost back-to-back Premier League games.
Brighton beat Manchester City 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, and the only goal came in the 11th minute from Brighton midfielder Yasin Ayari. It is the first time Brighton have won at the Etihad. City lost back-to-back Premier League games for the first time under their boss, Enzo Maresca.
The loss came a week after a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on 24 October, and it leaves Brighton third, two points behind City.
Ayari's goal started from a free-kick that the Guardian says appeared to be wrongly awarded against Elliot Anderson. Lewis Dunk swept the dead ball to Diego Gómez. When Gómez crossed, Matheus Nunes failed to clear it, and Maxim De Cuyper centred for Ayari to finish, with Gianluigi Donnarumma stranded.
City had 62 per cent of the ball and 21 shots to Brighton's seven, according to Punch, but they could not turn the pressure into a goal. Iliman Ndiaye hit the crossbar, and Nunes drew a save from Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
Punch named Verbruggen Player of the Match, and Sky Sports says he made seven saves. Verbruggen also spoke about the effort the team put in:
"The amount of bodies put on the line today is incredible."
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler said: "We all wanted to have that feeling that defence wins today."
Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca said: "We created enough to get some points but we didn't score." He also said City are conceding silly goals: "We are conceding silly goals; we can avoid that."
The Independent says Erling Haaland had scored in nine consecutive games, seven of them in the Premier League, before captain Lewis Dunk subdued him.
Brighton have won five of their last six Premier League matches and kept a clean sheet in all five wins, the most clean sheets (6) in the league this season, according to Sky Sports. Sky Sports features writer Laura Hunter wrote that it is "perhaps too early to tell" whether Brighton are in the title race.
The Independent put the result in money terms. Ayari cost Brighton £3.5m, while City's starting 11 cost about £750m against Brighton's nearer £160m.
According to Punch, City will play a Champions League away fixture at RB Leipzig on Wednesday.
No comments yet