Manchester City racked up some unwanted statistics by losing their lead and ultimately the match at Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 on Saturday evening, most notably their worst run of defeats in over 18 years.
Following their losses to Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup, AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League and Sporting in the UEFA Champions League, City suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions.
The last time that happened was when three defeats in their last three matches of the 2005/06 season – against Fulham, Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers – were followed by another one in their opening game of 2006/07.
All of those were in the Premier League, under Stuart Pearce’s management.
Current boss Pep Guardiola has now lost four games in a row for the first time in his managerial career, having never previously suffered such a sequence with City, Bayern Munich or Barcelona, if penalty shootouts are excluded.
This is only the fourth time he has lost back-to-back games in the Premier League, having done so against Leicester City and Chelsea in December 2016, Crystal Palace and Leicester in December 2018, and Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal in September-October 2023.
Before losing to Bournemouth on 2 November, City were on a 32-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, spanning 11 months after their 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on 6 December 2023.
Haaland suffers first defeat after a goal
Erling Haaland also made unwanted history with the defeat at Brighton – for the very first time he lost a Premier League match in which he had scored. In the previous 46 matches in the competition when he was on the scoresheet, City won 40 and drew the other six.
Brighton have hurt City before – they were the last Premier League team to beat them after Guardiola’s side led at half-time, also at the Amex Stadium back in 2021.
The champions will next be in action on Saturday 23 November, after the international break, when they will host Spurs – the opponents who began this record-breaking run of defeats – in the Premier League.
