Brighton and Hove Albion delivered a real statement of intent with an away victory at Manchester City on Saturday.
The Seagulls consolidated third place in the Premier League table with the win, and moved within two points of their opponents.
For City, it was a second straight league defeat – although like last week at Aston Villa, they had their chances.
Here are our Scout Notes from the Etihad.
WHY MARESCA WENT WITHOUT CHERKI + FODEN
Rayan Cherki (£8.0m) or Phil Foden (£6.8m) in the ’10’? The answer was ‘neither’ this time, as Enzo Maresca opted for a three-man midfield, bringing in Ayyoub Bouaddi (£5.5m) alongside the underwhelming Enzo Fernandez (£6.9m) and the excellent Elliot Anderson (£6.3m).
It was a tactic Maresca had turned to in the second half against Paris Saint-Germain earlier this month, and one that had sparked a comeback. While Bouaddi’s introduction had helped wrest control of the midfield against PSG, it didn’t have the desired effect on Saturday. It also left City short of Cherki’s ingenuity in the middle, and the 10-less experiment ended with the Frenchman’s introduction after 55 minutes.
“I expected a physical game because analysing them, watching them, they are aggressive, man-to-man. I watched the games that they have played. So, I think it was a good idea to start with three physical midfielders and also because we were thinking about the last 20 minutes, half an hour, to refresh a little bit also with Rayan [Cherki], in this case, or Phil [Foden] or Allan.” – Enzo Maresca on why he opted for Ayyoub Bouaddi and not Phil Foden or Rayan Cherki against Brighton
It’s a tactic Maresca may still look to repeat in Gameweek 12 but in the next two Gameweeks, it’s hard to envisage it happening:
Expect a bona fide attacking midfielder to earn a recall in Gameweek 10, and minutes accrued against RB Leipzig on Wednesday may dictate who that is.
Cherki could yet have one last pre-international-break laugh in him.
NDIAYE LIVELY AS FINISHING TOUCH ELUDES CITY
It’s two league defeats in a row for the blue half of Manchester but this is no crisis of United proportions.
Actually, the performances in the losses to Aston Villa and Brighton haven’t been bad at all – certainly not from an attacking perspective.
“Yeah, it’s a very similar feeling that we had after the Aston Villa game. Unfortunately, you know, we created enough to get some points, but we didn’t score. It’s, in this moment, like this. I think today again, we did enough to deserve something.” – Enzo Maresca
Iliman Ndiaye (£5.8m) turned in a lively showing, just as he had done in Gameweek 8.
He had some great chances to score, too, nodding wide from close range from an Anderson cross, twice hitting the woodwork (one via a superb Bart Verbruggen (£4.6m) touch), and producing a superb jinking run that ended in a disappointingly tame shot.
Jeremy Doku (£7.5m) was frustrating, often lacking the final ball, but does tend to outlast Ndiaye on the pitch if we’re looking at xMins. He also somehow ended up with three shots and four chances created, despite the wastefulness, and nearly bundled his way to a goal late on.
As for Erling Haaland (£15.8m), a quiet-ish afternoon, but still one that ended up with four shots, some brilliantly blocked by Brighton players. He should have scored with a set-piece header, too.
Matheus Nunes (£5.9m) and Abdudokir Khusanov (£5.3m) also drew fine saves out of the inspired Verbruggen, while Nico O’Reilly (£5.9m) headed inches wide. No need to panic about City’s attacking credentials, then, although the defence isn’t in a great moment.
Maresca dropped the out-of-sorts Marc Guehi (£6.0m) but there was no tightening of the belt, with Josko Gvardiol (£5.7m) suspect at left-back. City have now conceded 17 big chances in the last five Gameweeks.
GROSS NEARING A BAN
Before we get onto Brighton’s performance, a word on Pascal Gross (£6.2m).
He’s now on four bookings for the season, so one more in Albion’s next 10 league fixtures will earn him a one-match ban.
The prospect of missing one fixture in Gameweeks 11-20 will just be something to shrug and accept for most of his five million owners. The best-value midfielder in FPL (based on points per million) is hardly going to become a ‘sell’ based on discipline status, especially not with the fixtures Brighton have got coming up. All it’ll mean for many will be a week of, say, Leif Davis (£4.0m) or Bobby Thomas (£4.0m) in their Fantasy sides, rather than the Seagulls’ ageless playmaker.
DE CUYPER BACK ON THE FPL SUMMIT
Maxim De Cuyper (£5.3m) leapfrogged Haaland to move back on top of the FPL points table.
His assist was somewhat jammy – Diego Gomez‘s (£5.0m) low cross deflecting off him and swept home by Yasin Ayari (£5.4m) – but the fact that he was there, seven yards out, trying to meet Gomez’s delivery in the first place, shows just how advanced he is.
Indeed, he could have had further returns. Blazing over an excellent chance from Ayari’s ball, he later met Gross’s cross with a header that Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.5m) saved.
It’s been a whirlwind ‘out of position’ ride with De Cuyper this season, and there’s little sign of a slowdown. Kaoru Mitoma (£5.9m) will, eventually, become a problem, but even if/when he returns after the break, he’s been out of action for so long that starts will be a while coming. De Cuyper’s not an issue for now, then, even if Luka Vuskovic (£5.2m) will likely end up being the long, long-term best pick at the back.
Gross’s chance created for De Cuyper was his only attacking contribution of the game, and he spent much of the match, like his teammates, defending. He wasn’t even far away from DefCon points, finishing on 10 contributions:
Have no fear, though, as we’re going to see a lot more of him from an attacking perspective in the weeks ahead:
Ayari made it three goals this season and is enjoying his run in a more advanced role, but Jack Hinshelwood (£5.9m) looms large. The latter came on and nearly added a dinked second.
SIXTH CLEAN SHEET BANKED
“There’s an old phrase that, in the end, defence wins your battles and wins your championship. Of course, we’re not speaking about the championship, but especially today, we need to have this defensive mindset. And it’s always a togetherness when you defend together.” – Fabian Hurzeler
Brighton are now sitting on a league-best six clean sheets.
It’s fair to say they’ve ridden some luck along the way; they’re even outside the top 10 for fewest expected goals conceded (xGC).
Fortunate for them, then, that Verbruggen is having a stormer of a season. There have been question marks about the Dutchman in the past, but the expected numbers don’t lie in 2026/27:
We can likely expect some defensive regression to the mean from both ‘keeper and team, but with Vuskovic (DefCons, set-piece threat) and De Cuyper (out of position, takes corners) offering so much else, and the fixtures great after the break, there’s scant reason to worry.
KADIOGLU INJURY LATEST
There was no Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.4m) in the side, with his place taken by Costinha (£4.5m).
Fabian Hurzeler offered us an update after full-time.
“He trained yesterday but he still felt [his hip] and therefore we had to make a decision afterwards that it doesn’t make sense [to risk him]. So, hopefully, he can recover now in the next days. We have one more day than usual, so I’m quite positive he’ll be an option for Thursday.” – Fabian Hurzeler on Ferdi Kadioglu
