Brighton stun Manchester City. Photo: Getty Images.
Ayari punishes City as Brighton win at the Etihad for the first time and rise to third
Yasin Ayari’s 11th-minute goal gave Brighton a 1-0 win over Manchester City, the club’s first ever victory at the Etihad Stadium. It came three days after City had knocked them out of the cup on the same ground.
The result lifts Fabian Hürzeler’s side to third on 19 points, two behind City. Enzo Maresca’s team have now lost back-to-back league games after winning their first seven, the first of them a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on October 24. City stay top only on goal difference from Arsenal, who also have 21 points but have played a game fewer.
Hürzeler resisted setting lofty targets despite closing the gap on the leaders.
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“The only thing we’re focused on at the moment is that we are in a big process – a process where we go home now and analyse the game and take the right things out of it,” he said in comments reported by The Irish News.
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Brighton twice led in midweek before City won the shootout 4-3, with Ayari and skipper Lewis Dunk having Brighton’s final two penalties saved. This time the Swede made the difference. A free-kick on the right led to a low cross that escaped the clearance and reached Ayari at the far post through a teammate. He finished from around six yards for his third goal of the season.
“He was very disappointed after the game,” Hürzeler said.
“But every morning you can wake up and decide if you’re disappointed from the day before, what you can’t change any more, or do you set the tone in a new way.
“That is what Yasin did and it was an impressive performance, not only for scoring the goal but he ran a lot and defended quite well. He was a big part of why we won the game.”
City had chances to level. Iliman Ndiaye headed a cross wide, shot straight at the goalkeeper after a weaving run and had a powerful second-half effort tipped onto the bar. Late on, he failed to convert a cross across goal. Bart Verbruggen made another strong save and Dunk blocked two goalbound shots from Erling Haaland. Brighton could have added a second: an unmarked far-post chance was struck over shortly after half-time, a header forced a diving save and a late attack ended in the side-netting.
“There’s an old phrase – defence wins you battles and wins you championships,” Hürzeler told the club’s website. “Of course, we’re not speaking about the championship, but especially today we needed to have this defensive mindset.”
“It is a very similar feeling that we had after the Aston Villa game. Unfortunately we created enough to get some points but we didn’t score,” Maresca said.
“But I think in this moment we are the second team in terms of scoring in the Premier League. That means we are scoring goals, but in this moment we are conceding silly goals that we can avoid and hopefully we can avoid in the next game.”
Enciso does it again with long-range equaliser as Ipswich draw 2-2 at Hull
Julio Enciso rescued Ipswich for the second straight league game. In the 74th minute at the MKM Stadium, he worked his way through Hull’s defensive line and curled a left-footed shot from outside the box into the top corner.
Florentino Luis had put the visitors ahead in the 22nd minute, and Enciso had a header ruled out before the break for a foul on Oli McBurnie. Hull turned it around after the interval. Tim Iroegbunam equalised in the 58th minute from McBurnie’s pass, then McBurnie drove a 68th-minute free-kick through the wall. Both sides finish on 11 points from nine games, with Hull ninth and Ipswich 13th.
“We were excellent, the better side for almost all of it,” Ipswich manager Gary O’Neil said. “There’s disappointment that it doesn’t get us three, but a point on the road in the (Premier League) is still something.”
Hull remain unbeaten at home, but they have now gone eight games without a win, with Socceroos star Lucas Herrington an unused sub in this match.
“We should have controlled the last 20 minutes better because Enciso scored an excellent goal, but still we could have defended it,” Hull boss Sergej Jakirovic said. “But if you cannot win, at least don’t lose. I know we are waiting now for almost two months for a win, but I am still positive.”
Evanilson strikes again as Bournemouth make it six wins in a row
Bournemouth beat Leeds 2-0 for a sixth straight win across all competitions and rose to seventh on 12 points. Evanilson scored his fifth goal in six games in the 31st minute, finishing from close range after a misplaced goalkeeper’s pass was intercepted. Amine Adli sealed it on the counter in stoppage time. Leeds had an early goal disallowed for handball.
Daniel Farke backed James Trafford after the goalkeeper’s misplaced pass gifted Bournemouth the opener, in comments reported by the Eastern Daily Press.
“I’m pretty sure he will save us way more points than he perhaps has cost us today. But in general, we win together, we lose together,” the Leeds boss said.
“We’re all happy to have him. For me, he’s still top class and has all my trust and all my love.”
Marco Rose praised Evanilson’s contribution beyond his goals.
“I just met him and said ‘you are a real number nine’. He’s working so hard for the team,” Rose said.
“He has to reward himself with goals, and that’s what he is doing finally and I just hope that he continues.”
Glasner issues ultimatum as deflected goals sink Forest against Brentford
Brentford moved up to sixth on 14 points with a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest. Both goals deflected heavily off the same Forest defender: a 30th-minute own goal and Igor Thiago’s strike in the 76th. Forest had 15 shots to Brentford’s six but sit 19th on six points after four defeats in five.
Glasner also said he had refused one player’s request to travel home alone, insisting everyone return to Nottingham together on the team bus, The Guardian reported.
“We are outrun by the opposition in every single game. We have to change it. And if you can’t change it, we need different personnel. And if the club doesn’t want to change it, they need a different manager. I’m desperate to change it. Desperate,” Oliver Glasner said.
Lampard’s Coventry climb out of the drop zone as Sunderland stay bottom
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, with his first Premier League goal, Taiwo Awoniyi, with his first league goal since his summer move, and Jack Rudoni scored as Coventry beat Sunderland 3-1. Coventry move up to 15th on nine points. Sunderland’s 67th-minute penalty was their first league goal since September 20, and they finished with 10 men after a stoppage-time second yellow. They remain bottom on five points.
Lampard praised Coventry’s response and their refusal to sit on the lead.
“I love the way we approached it. Don’t sit back, keep pushing and doing the same things, but it won’t always be that way,” he told Sky Sports.
“Consistency is the key word in this league. We gave two opportunities from two unforced errors and it changed the game. After that, we had good spells and created good chances, but the consistency is not acceptable at this level,” Regis Le Bris told Sky Sports.
Spurs make it three straight league wins against 10-man Palace
Tottenham beat Crystal Palace 2-0 to climb to eighth on 12 points after Jean-Philippe Mateta was sent off early, VAR upgrading his yellow to a red for serious foul play. Archie Gray headed the opener in the 25th minute and Jan Paul van Hecke nodded in the rebound of his own effort in the 73rd. Palace drop to 18th on seven points.
Van Hecke acknowledged that Mateta’s dismissal helped Spurs, but said patience was needed against Palace’s low block, according to The Guardian’s post-match coverage. He felt Tottenham could have scored more, despite taking until the 73rd minute to secure their second.
Chelsea beat Manchester United to go fourth
Chelsea’s 2-0 home win over Manchester United moves them to fourth on 16 points. United are 17th on seven, ahead of Palace on goal difference.
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