Football: Manchester City in crisis, Liverpool soars

Without Manuel Akanji, left on the bench, Manchester City suffered a fourth defeat in a row in all competitions on Saturday at Brighton (2-1). An unprecedented bad series for Pep Guardiola and the reigning four-time English champions.

Liverpool rose to the occasion and widened their gap at the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 victory at Anfield against Aston Villa, their ninth in eleven league matches. The Reds and their new coach Arne Slot now have 28 points, five more than Manchester City.

“We lost again, so we have to get our heads back together, (passer) the international break and hope that our players will return to form,” Guardiola hoped to the BBC. The Spanish coach, at the helm of the Citizens since 2016, already had one foot on the ground after setbacks against Tottenham (2-1) in the League Cup, Bournemouth (2-1) in the league then Sporting Lisbon (4-1). ) in the Champions League.

The new disappointment, in Brighton, is all the more difficult to digest as his team opened the scoring quickly before giving up in a rather incomprehensible way against the offensive Seagulls. “We have been fortunate to have success here over the last eight years. “It’s time to show character, put on the boots and get in the mud,” said defender Kyle Walker. Upon returning from the international break, there will be a tough restart with the reception of Tottenham on November 23, then a trip to Liverpool on December 1.

Brighton’s new coach, the German Fabian Hürzeler, had inspired coaching: Joao Pedro scored twelve minutes after leaving the substitutes’ bench (78th, 1-1) then the Brazilian sent an assist to Matt O’ Riley (83rd, 2-1), another entrant. The final result rewards the determination of Brighton, much more enterprising in the second half, but long frustrated by Ederson’s saves in front of Jack Hinshelwood (52nd) and Kaoru Mitoma (69th) in particular. The visitors seemed to lose intensity during a match which they started in the best possible way thanks to the 75th goal scored in the Premier League by Erling Haaland (23rd, 0-1).

In the evening, Liverpool continued the torments of Manchester City, at the same time as those of Aston Villa, with goals from Darwin Nunez (20th) and Mohamed Salah (84th). The Reds continue to see life in roses with this fifteenth victory in 17 matches in all competitions.

The only downside came from defender Trent Alexander-Arnold being injured in the first half. His replacement Conor Bradley miraculously escaped a penalty after pulling an opponent’s jersey in the Liverpool box on the hour mark.

Conversely, Aston Villa continues a third match without a win in the Premier League (two defeats and a draw), which sends the Birmingham club back to 8th place.

In the afternoon, Wolverhampton obtained its first victory of the season, at the expense of bottom-placed Southampton (2-0), with goals from Pablo Sarabia and ex-Sédunois Matheus Cunha. The Wolves remain in the red zone (18th with 6 points) but they come back one step behind Crystal Palace (17th, 7 points), the first non-relegation team, beaten at home by Fulham (0-2).

They also have Everton (16th, 10 points) in their sights, leaving West Ham with a point (0-0) and a new whitewash, the third in five matches. This is another bad result for the Hammers (14th, 12 points), so active this summer on the transfer market but so disappointing since the first day.

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