How Brighton outsmarted Man City to teach the Premier League a valuable lesson

Money may be at the root of the existential problem facing Manchester City but this was a different kind of advertisement for spending less. As Enzo Maresca began with his £326m midfield trio for the first time, the winner came from a midfielder.

But not Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson or Ayyoub Bouaddi, perhaps the most expensive triumvirate ever assembled in their position. Yasin Ayari cost Brighton and Hove Albion a mere £3.5m.

The Swede has long since joined the list of bargains unearthed by Albion. As part of a £25m midfield trio, their combined price about one-fifth of Fernandez’s record-equalling fee, he flourished. City’s second consecutive league defeat was Brighton’s second win in Manchester already this season, but the first at the Etihad Stadium in their history.

The watching City chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak may have reflected there is a different way of financing a squad. Maybe underspending is the new overspending. Brighton’s funding is scarcely disguised: some of it comes from selling to other Premier League clubs, often Chelsea. They banked £70m from Manchester United for Carlos Baleba this summer, kept Ayari and have gone from strength to strength.

Brighton can be poster boys for parsimony, proof clubs can be transformed by smart trading. Theirs is a charge towards the Champions League places on the cheap; relatively speaking, anyway. This would only be an asterisked achievement if they owed a top-four or top-five finish to City being deducted points. Yet the way Fabian Hurzeler’s side are going, they may not even need that. They are only two points behind City now, arguably in the title race.

This was a triumph of the small spenders; the small names, too. Albion’s annual sales can give them a relative anonymity but they are turning into the unexpected, underestimated challengers. While City’s starting 11 cost about £750m, Brighton’s arrived for nearer to £160m. The cheapest man on the pitch was the homegrown Lewis Dunk. Three weeks from his 35th birthday, three days after missing the decisive penalty here in the Carabao Cup shootout between these teams, the captain was outstanding.

In the process, he helped halt Erling Haaland’s scoring run. The Norwegian had struck in nine consecutive games, seven of them in the Premier League. As Dunk subdued him, that sequence ended, along with a chance of breaking Jamie Vardy’s record of scoring in 11 in a row in the top flight.

Meanwhile, City have defensive problems. Ayari’s goal was the 13th City have conceded in their last six outings at the Etihad Stadium. Even as Maresca dropped Marc Guehi, others instead made errors. “In this moment we are conceding silly goals,” lamented Maresca. Matheus Nunes was the latest culprit, failing to clear Diego Gomez’s cross and allowing Maxim de Cuyper to centre for Ayari to finish. After he, too, missed from the spot on Wednesday, it was an admirable response.

Ayari had a licence to roam. He used it to great effect and when he crossed, De Cuyper, the left-back masquerading as a left winger, could have doubled Brighton’s lead. The substitute Jack Hinshelwood should have sealed victory late on, too. Instead, their defence did.

Brighton brought high pressing, arriving with energy and excellence. Maresca had given five of his regulars a night off on Wednesday but City made the sluggish start. By the time they stirred, they trailed. Brighton had led twice at the Etihad in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. Three days later, it was third time lucky: they held on to an advantage.

It took a huge effort. “We all wanted to have that feeling that defence wins today,” said Hurzeler. Bart Verbruggen added: “The amount of bodies put on the line today is incredible.” But the goalkeeper was terrific in his own right, saving well from Nunes, Haaland, Abdukodir Khusanov and Jeremy Doku. Nico O’Reilly headed wastefully wide at the end, but it was telling the Mancunian was brought on in midfield in place of the ineffective Fernandez.

And while City finished with 21 shots, too few of their players impressed. Iliman Ndiaye was an exception. As at Aston Villa, he was City’s biggest threat. The Senegalese crossed when Anderson headed wide from six yards. His rising shot was tipped on to the bar by Verbruggen. He blazed wide from O’Reilly’s inviting low centre.

“We created enough to get some points but we didn’t score,” said Maresca. “In this moment, it is like this.”

The momentum of his start of seven straight league wins has dissipated, replaced by disappointment.

“For sure, we are not happy – the players, me, the coaching staff, no one is happy when we lose games but we were aware we were not going to win all the games,” added Maresca.

There have been glimpses of their footballing failings, to compound their off-the-field issues. But if City don’t know what value the points will have for them, Brighton took them anyway. They have got value for money and they were good value for victory.