Brighton gained quick revenge after being knocked out of the Carabao Cup in midweek by stunning Manchester City and condemning Enzo Maresca’s side to back-to-back Premier League defeats.

Fabian Hurzeler’s men had twice taken the lead at Etihad Stadium on Wednesday but were edged out on penalties. On Saturday, they held on to a highly impressive victory to move just two points behind City in third.

Brighton scored the winning goal just 11 minutes in courtesy of a major helping hand from right-back Matheus Nunes, whose miscued clearance fell nicely for Yasin Ayari to convert from close range.

City should have levelled 10 minutes later when Iliman Ndiaye rose to meet Elliot Anderson’s cross but planted his header the wrong side of the post, before the Senegal international stung Bart Verbruggen’s palms at the near post.

Ndiaye was proving to be City’s brightest spark as they looked for a way back into the game in the second half and the ex-Everton man ran clear and thumped a strike which was brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Verbruggen.

The Brighton goalkeeper was proving to be a difficult prospect to find a way past and he made another superb save to deny Nunes, while a weak header from Erling Haaland was more comfortable to deal with.

City’s star striker Haaland was being starved of any real service and his side could well have fallen further behind at the other end – Maxim de Cuyper blazing over from 10 yards out and then forcing Donnarumma into a sharp save with a header.

But those missed opportunities from Brighton did not matter as they collected all three points to continue their exciting start to the season.

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