Four days after losing to Manchester City on penalties in the Carabao Cup, Brighton went back to the Etihad and did it properly. Yasin Ayari scored after 11 minutes, Bart Verbruggen made sure nobody took the goal away from him, and Enzo Maresca's side lost a second league game running.
It was a result built on one soft moment and a lot of hard work. City had 21 shots and not one of them found the net, which had not happened to them in a Premier League match for 25 games.
A clearance that fell kindly
The goal came from a mistake rather than a move. Maxim De Cuyper swung a cross towards the far post and Matheus Nunes tried to clear it, but he got so little on the ball that it dropped straight in front of Ayari. The Swede, who had missed his penalty in Wednesday's shootout at the same end, did not need a second invitation and finished from close range.
Ayari now has three league goals this season, and this one went some way to settling the personal score.
City pushed, Verbruggen answered
City should have levelled around ten minutes later. Iliman Ndiaye met an Elliot Anderson cross and put his header the wrong side of the post, then he tested Verbruggen at the near post. After the break Ndiaye ran clear and hit a shot that the keeper tipped onto the crossbar, and Verbruggen also denied Nunes. Erling Haaland, short of service all afternoon, produced only a weak header that Verbruggen gathered without fuss.
It was not all one-way traffic. De Cuyper blazed over from ten yards and later forced a sharp save from Gianluigi Donnarumma with a header, so Brighton could have made the scoreline kinder to themselves.
First sticky patch for Maresca
Maresca won his first seven league games in charge and has now lost two in a row, after defeat at Aston Villa last Saturday. BBC Sport noted that City are winless in five league games against Brighton, and the midfield trio of Anderson, Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi often looked disconnected.
For Fabian Hurzeler it was a first league win at the Etihad after 16 previous visits without one. Brighton's 24 league goals are more than any other top-flight side has managed, and with the pressing as sharp as it was here, the gap to City is down to two points.
Match facts: Manchester City 0-1 Brighton & Hove Albion, Premier League, Etihad Stadium, Saturday 31 October 2026. Goal: Yasin Ayari 11'. Verbruggen was the top-rated player in BBC Sport's user ratings.
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