Man City 1-1 Brighton: Draw a “punch in the ribs” for Guardiola’s team

City missed Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias and John Stones from the back line, and it is expected that none of the trio will return to the field until at least next month.

Guardiola was forced to recall academy product Max Allen from his loan spell at Watford. The 20-year-old made his first-team debut on a chilly evening in the First Division cauldron.

Allen has performed admirably on the big stage and it’s not his fault that he was thrown into such circumstances, just as Nico O’Reilly was brought into the lineup due to an injury crisis last season.

In the end, Erling Haaland’s 150th goal for the club didn’t matter much, as they conspired to drop six points in a week, giving Arsenal a huge boost.

With Aston Villa also drawing, Mikel Arteta’s men have a golden opportunity to go eight points clear – a scenario they could only have dreamed of last week.

“If you don’t win games, we can’t think about these things,” Guardiola said of the title race. “We achieved an amazing result at Nottingham Forest [in City’s final game of 2025] After we played three games and played really well.

“They have the momentum, Brighton are moving really well, except for the first five to 10 minutes we did well overall and maybe in the first half a little less – in the last 15 to 20 minutes we had unbelievable chances.

“Expected goals don’t give me anything. That’s how you play to score goals and we couldn’t do that today.”

“It feels like a big week. Manchester City draw at home to Brighton, it feels like another punch in the ribs,” former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on Sky Sports.

“Arsenal will go to bed tonight, ahead of a big game tomorrow night against Liverpool, very confident of where they are now.”

Guardiola also appeared to be showing the pressure that comes with dropping more points in the title race, as he clashed with Brighton coach Fabian Horzler on the touchline.

The German said that “emotions are part of the game of football”, while the City coach said that it was “absolutely” fine between the duo.

City winger Jeremy Doku added: “I think a draw at home is not really a good point. We are not happy and would have preferred three points.

“We don’t really look at the table. We try to be ourselves and score more goals.”