Brighton and Hove Albion 2 Manchester City 1
Goals from substitutes Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley gave Brighton and Hove Albion a famous win.
But the accolades must go to another sub, Carlos Baleba, who came on after the half-time break.
The Seagulls were 1-0 down to an Erling Haaland goal from an exquisite through ball from Mateo Kovacic. Neither Jan Paul van Hecke nor Igor Julio could prevent the Norwegian striker from giving City the lead.
Albion rode their luck at times, not least when Bart Verbruggen made a point-blank save from Haaland. The visitors had by far the best of the possession for the first 45 minutes.
Having soaked up City’s pressure, the Seagulls were starting to push forward themselves before the interval and could even have been awarded a penalty at one point.
Josko Gvardiol went down to block a shot from Danny Welbeck, possibly with his arm, after Kyle Walker misjudged the ball, but the ref Samuel Barrott kept play going.
After the break, Baleba replaced Yasin Ayari and Albion looked like a different team.
The 20-year-old Cameroonian almost missed the second-half kick-off because he didn’t have his shirt on when he took off his tracksuit.
The goals that turned the game around were scored late on and within five minutes of each other and both by subs.
On 78 minutes, Pedro triumphed in a good old-fashioned goal-mouth scramble while O’Riley took a superb ball from Pedro in his stride and dinked it passed Ederson in the 83rd minute.
City tried to equalise, with Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne both stifled in the dying minutes of nrmal time – and then nine minutes of added time were signalled.
The tension continued past the 100-minute mark before the final whistle and three valuable points.
Albion move up to fourth in the Premier League table, with 19 points from 11 games. City remain second, with 23 points also from 11 matches, five points behind Liverpool who have a game in hand.
