Manchester City, European giant, suffered a fourth defeat in a row, in all competitions, on Saturday at Brighton (2-1), an unprecedented bad series for Pep Guardiola and his armada of stars.
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.
Arne Slot’s “Reds” now have 28 points, five more than the reigning four-time English champion, knocked down at Brighton during a poorly negotiated second half. “We lost again, so we have to get our minds back in place, (spend) the international break and hope that our players will come back in shape,” Guardiola hoped to the BBC.
The multi-titled Spaniard, 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’ve been fortunate to have success here over the last eight years. It’s time to show some character, put on the boots and get in the mud,” said defenseman 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.
In the evening, Liverpool continued the torments of Man City, at the same time as those of Aston Villa, with goals from Darwin Nunez (20th) and Mohamed Salah (84th).
The “Reds” and their new coach Arne Slot continue to see life in roses with this fifteenth victory in seventeen 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 shirt in the Liverpool box on the hour mark.
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 eighth place.
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