Graham Potter’s side had come into the fixture in as buoyant a mood as you possibly could when coming up against such a fearsome opponent. They sat fourth in the Premier League table at the start of the weekend having already taken points off the likes of Arsenal and Leicester City, but Pep Guardiola’s side are an entirely different proposition.<\/p>\n
A harrowing first half-hour had seen City control most facets of the game and pick Brighton off to all but wrap up the win with the half-time whistle still some time away. What will most likely frustrate Potter is that elements of all three goals could be put down to individual errors, something they had kept at a premium during their impressive start to the campaign.<\/p>\n
The Citizens, of course, force these errors to a greater degree than almost any other side in the top flight, and their array of attacking talent is capable of exploiting such errors with a frightening level of consistency. However, this was a reminder for the Seagulls that even if they are currently mixing it with the best in the country in terms of league position, there is still a very real gap between themselves and the likes of City.<\/p>\n
The first goal, the one that set the tone for the opening 30 minutes of the game, has to be laid at the feet, or rather the hands of the usually dependable Robert Sanchez.<\/p>\n
He was arguably fouled by Jesus as he attempted to claim a deflected Foden strike on 13 minutes, but the minimal contact made by the Brazilian striker meant the decision to allow the Ilkay Gundogan goal that came after Bernardo Silva expertly exploited the goalkeeper’s fumble was never likely to be overturned.<\/p>\n
Brighton did then find their feet for a short period, remaining committed to their head coach’s principles of trying to build play from the defence, but it was one such move that in fact preceded the visitors’ second goal of the evening.<\/p>\n
Marc Cucurella found himself in a promising position on the left-wing but played a misplaced ball into the penalty area which allowed Ruben Dias to intercept. Dias found Rodri, Rodri fed the ball to Silva, Silva waited patiently before sliding a pass into the path of Jack Grealish and the \u00a3100 million summer signing from Aston Villa unselfishly squared the ball for Foden to bundle into an empty net.<\/p>\n
The move took just 12 seconds from City’s penalty area to the back of the Brighton net.<\/p>\n
This was perhaps less an error from Cucurella and more a flash of just how monumental a task it is for sides of Brighton’s standing to overcome an opponent like City, but either way it looked a remarkably easy goal to score.<\/p>\n
The third was arguably the most frustrating to concede of the lot as Lewis Dunk played a pass straight to the feet of Silva, starting the attack that ended with Foden deflecting home his second goal of the evening.<\/p>\n
“Performance-wise I am so proud of the players.<\/p>\n
“We were playing against a top team who deserved to win.<\/p>\n
“But our players gave everything, they did everything we asked them to do.<\/p>\n
“They were together, they had spirit, they had quality so we are disappointed to lose but our performance was something to be proud of.”<\/p>\n