Brighton and Hove Albion gave its fans a welcome return to the Amex Stadium, aided by a Joao Cancelo red card, as the Seagulls beat 10-man Manchester City 3-2 on Tuesday.
The Premier League champions went ahead after just two minutes through Ilkay Gundogan but were down a man after 10 when Cancelo was sent off for a last-man back foul.
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City made it to halftime 1-0 and doubled its advantage through Phil Foden, but Brighton was not to be deterred in its efforts.
Leandro Trossard, Adam Webster, and Dan Burn scored in a 26-minut span as the Seagulls climbed into 15th place with 41 points.
That’s total is 42 behind City, who does not build on its lead after Manchester United threw away a lead of its own versus Fulham.
WATCH BRIGHTON – MANCHESTER CITY FULL MATCH REPLAY STREAM
Three things we learned from Brighton - Man City
1. Crowds are awesome: Man City with 10 men is a more difficult ask than most teams because of their excellent ball control, but the Seagulls legitimately felt buoyed by the crowd at the Amex Stadium. Yes, Brighton does have a great handle on playing open football anyway, but their success in picking up the pieces after City went down a man but still took their 1-0 lead to 2-0 feels like it owes a lot to the rabid support. And the supporters seemed to be releasing a year’s worth of stadium fire inside of 90-plus minutes fun.
2. Foden thrills with insurance goal: We’re not sure exactly the height of Phil Foden’s ceiling, but there’s some kind of cathedral vibe to be sure. Foden doubled his 10-man champions’ advantage with a long dribble and finish that left a very good defender in Ben White and a promising goalkeeper in Robert Sanchez out on the tiles. The 20-year-old’s 15 goals and 10 assists in all competitions this season do very much feel like the tip of the iceberg for the “Stockport Iniesta.”
3. City needs to find tightness: There are a lot of reasons to consider this a one-off.... if not for City allowing multiple goals to Newcastle last time out. There’s a big challenge, even for a great team, in keeping things tight after collecting a league title but having several weeks until the next match of consequence. But for City, with a long-sought European Cup ahead? It just doesn’t feel great to see things like Cancelo’s red card or John Stones and even Ruben Dias losing their cool as Trossard danced across the box.
Man of the Match: Adam Webster
This wasn’t a series of amazing defensive displays, but his goal alone lifted the stadium and occasion.