City had Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias and John Stones missing from the backline, with none of the trio expected to return to action until at least next month.<\/p>\n
It had forced Guardiola to recall academy product Max Alleyne from his loan spell at Watford. The 20-year-old was given his first-team debut on a cold evening in the cauldron of the top flight.<\/p>\n
Alleyne performed admirably on the big stage and it is not his fault he has been thrown into this in such circumstances, just as Nico O’Reilly was brought in to the set-up because of last season’s injury crisis.<\/p>\n
In the end, Erling Haaland’s 150th goal for the club mattered little as they have conspired to drop six points in a week, giving a major boost to Arsenal<\/a>.<\/p>\n With Aston Villa<\/a> also drawing, Mikel Arteta’s men have a golden opportunity to go eight points clear – a scenario they could only have dreamed of just last week.<\/p>\n “If you don’t win games, we cannot think about these things,” Guardiola said of the title race. “We had an incredible result against Nottingham Forest<\/a> [in City’s final game of 2025] and after we played three games and we played really well.<\/p>\n “They have momentum, Brighton<\/a> move really well. Except the first five to 10 minutes we did really well in general and maybe the first half a little bit less – in the last 15-20 minutes we had incredible chances.<\/p>\n “Expected goals doesn’t give me anything. It’s how you play for goals and we could not do that today.”<\/p>\n Former Manchester United<\/a> defender Gary Neville said on Sky Sports: “It feels like a big week. Manchester City<\/a> drawing at home to Brighton<\/a>, it feels like another punch in the ribs.<\/p>\n “Arsenal<\/a> will be going to bed tonight, ahead of a big game tomorrow night against Liverpool<\/a>, very confident of where they are at right now.”<\/p>\n