Erling Haaland scored twice and Kevin de Bruyne scored a spectacular second-half goal as Manchester City defeated Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 at home in the Premier League on Saturday.
The victory lifted City into second position with 26 points after eleven games, one point behind leaders Arsenal, who will visit Southampton on Sunday. Brighton is sixth with 15 total points.
Haaland scored for the seventh consecutive home game in all competitions to give City the lead in the first half. He then converted a penalty kick in the 43rd minute after a VAR review determined that visiting captain Lewis Dunk fouled Bernardo Silva.
Leandro Trossard sent a shot from the edge of the box past diving City goalkeeper Ederson to give Brighton a well-earned equalizer early in the second period.
Trossard nearly scored an equalizer when he charged down the left wing and toward the goal, but Ederson blocked the shot to force a corner kick.
In the 75th minute, City captain De Bruyne ended the visitors’ hopes of salvaging a point by curling a shot from outside the penalty area high into the net.
Brighton are still looking for their first victory under Roberto De Zerbi, but they made an excellent account of themselves by pressing City high up the pitch and controlling the champions far better than any other visiting team this season.
However, they fell behind to a goal that is not typically associated with City: a long kick from goalkeeper Ederson that landed at Haaland’s feet following a mix-up between Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and defender Adam Webster.
The Norwegian striker outmuscled Webster and then walked the ball into the net, scoring his 21st goal of the season across all competitions after failing to score for the first time in 11 games in last week’s 1-0 loss at Liverpool.
After initially allowing play to continue, the VAR instructed referee Craig Pawson to review the challenge by Dunk on Silva. This setback halted Brighton’s progress.
Haaland scored his 22nd goal of the season, which was also City’s 600th Premier League goal under Pep Guardiola, who became the third manager to reach the milestone after Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger with Manchester United and Arsenal, respectively.