Yasin Ayari scored, and the Etihad went quiet
Manchester City 0–1 Brighton at the Etihad, and Brighton's first ever away win against City is in the books (4)(8). Seven straight wins to open the season, then two Premier League defeats in eight days: 1–2 at Aston Villa, then this. City still sit top with 21 points from nine, but the table is now a cushion, not a statement. Enzo Maresca did not dress it up: "We are conceding silly goals and we can avoid that" (8). Correct, and incomplete. The bigger problem in the Brighton game was the other end.
Conceding is not the only leak
Maresca keeps pointing at the back line, so look there first. Two goals conceded at Villa, another here, and the pattern is repetition rather than accident (8). But a City side that goes 90 minutes at home without scoring has a second problem, and it has a name attached. Ayyoub Bouaddi's numbers against Brighton were the numbers of a player who does not belong in a Premier League starting eleven yet (5). The midfield behind him offered no control either, which is why the ball kept coming back. Maresca's opening seven games were won on a midfield that never lost a second ball. Against Villa and Brighton it did, repeatedly. That is selection, not weather.
2–1 at Bromley, and an unbeaten run nobody should sleep on
Manchester City Women won 2–1 at London City Lionesses in the Women's Super League, Khadija Shaw and Lauren Hemp scoring, Hemp with the winner in the 74th minute (2)(3)(7). City stay unbeaten in the WSL and move six points clear of third place (2). It was not the first team's week, so it is worth saying plainly: the women's side is the part of the club that is currently holding its line, and doing it away from home against a Lionesses team that had a real chance to close the gap (7). Two-and-a-half years of a young Spanish full-back called Jana Fernández getting up to speed, and a 2–1 win delivered on the road. Take it.
The noise around the club is not going away
The FFP story moved again this week, with the claim of a secret New York meeting between Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United chiefs described as the "smoking gun" for a coordinated campaign, and Ferran Soriano rejecting the explanation offered (6). Nobody at City will say it out loud, but the timing of the Haaland exit talk, four possible destinations floated while his contract runs to 2034, is not a coincidence (9). Off-field stories have a way of finding a team that has just lost twice. Sportingly, City have at least said no to Barcelona's centre-back shopping: Gvardiol is not for sale this winter (12).
What to watch: Leipzig away, then Forest
Wednesday is RB Leipzig away in the Champions League, and it is the sort of fixture that either resets a season or deepens a hole. Maresca has three days to decide whether Bouaddi starts again (5). Then Nottingham Forest away on Saturday, followed by the kind of run where dropping points turns 21 points into a problem. Haaland's body language in defeat has already become a fan talking point. His goals in the next two matches would end it.
