Manchester City’s title bid faltered once again with a third draw in a row, this time against Brighton.
Erling Haaland broke a poor run of form by his standards, ending a goal drought that was into its fourth game. He fired in a penalty after Jeremy Doku was brought down by Diego Gomez, with referee Thomas Bramall giving the decision after being called to the monitor by VAR.
City had a number of great opportunities to double their lead, but Kaoru Mitoma made them pay when he cut inside from the left and curled the ball into the far corner, leaving Gianluigi Donnarumma no chance.
Pep Guardiola’s men may have knocked on the door throughout the final half an hour, but they had to settle for a frustrating point.
Sam Lee was at the Etihad as City handed Arsenal a chance to go eight points clear at the top of the Premier League should they win tomorrow night…
How did the young centre-back pairing get on?
Having chosen to stick with the increasingly solid pairing of Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol over the past few months, Guardiola was forced into a complete change here after both of them got injured against Chelsea at the weekend.
It is fair to say that Abdukodir Khusanov and Max Alleyne have not had much time to strike up a partnership, considering this was not only Alleyne’s debut, but he was only recalled from a loan at Watford on Monday morning.
Max Alleyne battles with Georginio Rutter (Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
The pairing itself was not an obvious issue for City; in fact, Khusanov looked very strong and was able to deploy his aggression and recovery pace to thwart some Brighton breaks. Alleyne seemed to struggle with Georginio Rutter early on, allowing the visitors to spring a play off Rutter and pass into the space he had created, but the 20-year-old got a grip of that and looked very assured, especially with his use of the ball.
Clearly, though, it is hardly a viable solution, even for the short term, given the number of games in different competitions, and with Nathan Ake taken off as City looked for a winner, it is clear to see why the club are scouring the market for a new defender in January, as Guardiola was fairly open about pre-match.
What has happened to the City attack?
City have been good this season, and it is easy to believe that huge strides have been made as they rebuild the squad following last term’s struggles, but much of the good they have done has been in a different way than what we have become accustomed to.
In short, they have struggled to get control of many matches, but have generally done well enough to win anyway because of their newfound threat on the counter-attack, with players such as Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Jeremy Doku causing havoc behind Haaland.
The issue for City here, when push came to shove, was that City could not do what they used to do and fully take control of the game again, and the alternative — relying on the brilliance of those attackers — was not really on the cards.
Foden has been quiet in these past few matches and Cherki, who came on here and missed a good chance, has not been able to show his best form either. Doku won City’s penalty and Haaland pushed late on, but they could not combine as normal, and it proved costly.
How was Yasin Ayari not punished?
There are many more talking points to this game, but there is one excruciatingly obvious point to make (and not that the referee should have spotted City’s first-half penalty in real time).
City were gifted two golden opportunities to score when Yasin Ayari gave away the ball inside the box with a blind pass not once but twice, and the hosts failed to capitalise.
Very early in the second half, Ayari presented Bernardo Silva with a good look at goal, but after a jink and a check, the captain shot wide when he should have made it 2-0.
Then, in the final 10 minutes, with City looking to re-take the lead, Ayari inexplicably did the exact same thing, this time to Rayan Cherki, who could not get a shot off but did find Haaland. The Norwegian, though, hit a fairly routine effort at Bart Verbruggen.
Erling Haaland scored to end his mini goal drought (Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Ayari was taken off soon after that and he hung his head in shame on the bench, as well he might, but he will be consoled by the fact that he was not punished as he really should have been — and how costly that could be for City.
Premier League title chances dented
City were very much in a title race this time last week, with their post-Christmas victory at Nottingham Forest prompting many to believe that another of their endless winning runs was on the way.
Indeed, they had been coming along nicely, and even their goalless draw with Sunderland on New Year’s Day was not really cause for panic because, although they ceded ground to Arsenal, they had played well and created good chances.
They should have put the game against Chelsea to bed on Sunday and it is through their own failings that they did not do it, but still they played well enough to have got the job done.
Still, this is now three draws in a row and while they had some huge chances here, the very best of them were put on a plate by Brighton and they did not capitalise.
The defensive injuries in the Chelsea game have stretched them at the back and in the space of a week they have dropped six points, which has the whiff of last season about it. Things are nowhere near as bad as that, but it is hardly the best position to be in.
What did Pep Guardiola say?
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Guardiola rued his side’s missed chances: “The way we played, I’m so, so pleased. We miss a lot (of chances). Scoring goals, you have to do it, but we didn’t do it.
“We didn’t score. That’s all. Sometimes we score, sometimes not. We have to continue to try to do it.”
Speaking about their faltering title charge, he said: “We have three games we didn’t win. It’s more difficult (to win the league now). We will continue.”
Guardiola also said he had “no idea” whether Antoine Semenyo will be a Manchester City player by the end of the month.
What next for City?
Saturday, January 10: Exeter City (Home), FA Cup third round, 3pm UK, 10am ET
Tuesday, January 13: Newcastle (Away), Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, 8pm UK, 3pm ET