- Erling Haaland gave City the lead in first half with signature run through on goal
- Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley produced composed finishes to pull off comeback
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Manchester City captain Kyle Walker has issued a rallying to supporters after the Premier League champions slumped to their fourth straight defeat on Saturday evening.
Pep Guardiola saw his side give up a one-goal advantage for the second time in a week at the Amex, as the Seagulls’ secured a famous 2-1 win to deal a major blow to their title hopes.
Walker, who, like many of his teammates, has been some way short of his best this term has issued a statement to supporters following the loss. In it, he insists that it is time for side’s ‘real characters’ to come through and he pledges that the team will return from the international break in better shape.
‘This is the time where I want to see the players.’ The City skipper said. ‘This is the time where real characters come through. It’s all good for the last eight years where we’ve been winning everything and dominating games and you’ve got a cigar out when you’re playing, but now it’s tough.
‘This is the time where us as players, us as senior members, have to pull the inexperienced ones or the ones that haven’t been at the club for a while and show them the foundations of this club because we built that over the last eight years and this will get us through this patch.
Manchester City captain Kyle Walker has issued a rallying cry after the club’s fourth straight defeat in all competitions
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for the Premier League champions against the Seagulls
Brighton launched a stunning comeback in the second half to inflict a shock defeat on the champions
‘It’s football. It will pass, with the players that we’ve got, with the manager that we’ve got, with the club and the fans, it will pass! But we need to weather the storm and after the international break we all come back fully-fit and ready to go for a very important part of the season!’
City’s woes were compounded on Saturday night as Liverpool took advantage of their slip up and extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table to five points.
Arne Slot’s side have recorded 15 wins in the Dutchman’s first 17 matches to assert themselves as genuine challengers for the Premier League title this season.
At the Amex, Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City in the first half but Brighton drastically improved after the break and substitute Joao Pedro equalised with 12 minutes remaining.
It was then another substitute, 23-year-old midfielder Matt O’Riley, who came on to score the winner for Brighton on his Premier League debut.
City have only scored 22 Premier League goals thus far – the same number as mid-table Brentford and Tottenham – from their opening 11 matches but they had already fired home 28 at this stage of last season.
Furthermore, they have also conceded five more goals than at this time last year and their backline is looking jaded ahead of crunch fixtures against Spurs and Liverpool.
They welcome Tottenham to the Etihad in their first match back after the international break before a clash against the league leaders at Anfield on December 1.