Erling Haaland got back on the scoresheet as Manchester City returned to winning ways with narrow 2-1 win over Brighton.
After suffering successive defeats prior to the recent international break, the champions were in danger of falling to three consecutive Premier League losses for the first time under Pep Guardiola.
That did not seem likely once play began at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday as early goals from Julian Alvarez and Haaland – his first City strike in four matches – put them on course for three points.
A reply from Brighton substitute Ansu Fati 17 minutes from time made for a nervous finish – and tension increased when Manuel Akanji picked up a second yellow card in stoppage time – but City held on.
For most of the game, City had looked more like their assertive selves with Rodri back after his costly recent suspension. The return of John Stones also brought more assurance, even though first-choice goalkeeper Ederson was on the bench after his recent international exertions for Brazil.
Brighton have impressed under Roberto De Zerbi – of whom Guardiola continually speaks highly – but, for all their enterprising play, their defence is proving leaky and their openness was quickly exploited.
Phil Foden troubled the visitors early on as he seized possession and broke forward to release the lively Jeremy Doku, who cut inside and curled over.
The opener was not long in coming and again Doku glided through the defence to reach the byline and pull back for Alvarez.
The Argentinian World Cup winner’s strike was not the cleanest but such is his confidence that his first-time shot had too much power as he beat Jason Steele for his seventh goal of the season.
City maintained the pressure with another break from deep ending when Josko Gvardiol shot straight at Steele.
Kaoru Mitoma had Brighton’s first opportunity but his tame effort was easily dealt with by Stefan Ortega and the Seagulls suffered a blow when Mancunian Danny Welbeck was forced off injured after 15 minutes.
Haaland took further advantage of Brighton’s defensive weakness as he ended his recent – by his extraordinary standards – goal ‘drought’ by doubling City’s lead on 19 minutes.
The Norwegian was given too much space as he powered towards the box before firing a left-footed shot into the bottom corner from distance.
Alvarez attracted the attention of the VAR after a push on Pascal Gross but nothing was given and Doku threatened again when he beat veteran former City player James Milner but missed the target.
Brighton started to show life early in the second half as Gross skewed a shot wide under pressure.
Haaland latched onto a Foden pass just after the hour but his strike was beaten away by Steele.
Mitoma had another good chance after getting behind the City back line but Ortega rushed out to block on the edge of the area.
That was a warning City failed to heed and moments after Alvarez’s attempt to lob a stranded Steele dropped short, they were caught on a rapid counter-attack.
Brighton quickly shifted the ball upfield and, although Mitoma’s attempt to pass into the danger area was cut out by Akanji, Fati was on hand to turn in the rebound.
Brighton pressed to the end but struggled to create meaningful chances. Akanji’s late dismissal brought more jitters for the home fans, but City completed the job.
Vancouver Whitecaps v Minnesota United: Togetherness is key for hosts, says Veselinovic
Vancouver Whitecaps defender Ranko Veselinovic believes their togetherness will get them through their tough spot as they prepare to welcome Minnesota United in MLS.
The Whitecaps have already clinched a playoff spot, but have struggled in recent weeks, drawing one and losing three, with their last league win coming against San Jose Earthquakes on September 15.
They sit seventh in the Western Conference, with Minnesota just one place and one point below them, and Veselinovic hopes they can find a solution to their recent blip to put a bigger gap between them.
"We feel like we can do better," he said. "Seattle was a really poor performance, so we need to find a way to be better on Saturday.
"Now it's all about the mental side. We need to find a way, we don't know how yet, but we need to push through.
"The most important thing is to stay together in the locker room and get sharper in the duels and wanting to put in a better performance."
Meanwhile, Minnesota drew 0-0 with Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, failing to make it three wins on the bounce.
However, the draw was enough to clinch their playoff spot with two games remaining, though head coach Eric Ramsay is not going to ease up on the team.
"We really want to make sure that we focus on us, the upcoming games, and I've said from day one of this trip that we came here with a real sense of a mission and purpose," Ramsay said.
"We want to make sure that when we play that final home game that we are really playing for something with something secured."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Vancouver Whitecaps – Pedro Vite
Vancouver failed to score in an MLS game for the first time since early September and struggled to assert themselves in front of goal.
Pedro Vite showed their biggest threat, registering the most shots on target (two), had one of their three big chances, and had the most final third entries on the team (11).
Minnesota United – Bongokuhle Hlongwane
Minnesota also drew a blank in their most recent outing, but despite an underwhelming performance, Bongokuhle Hlongwane caused some problems.
He was responsible for 0.42 of their 0.77 expected goals (xG) and had the joint-most shots, but their top scorer could not find a breakthrough.
MATCH PREDICTION: VANCOUVER WHITECAPS WIN
Vancouver are unbeaten in their last three matches against Minnesota (W2 D1), scoring three times in both of those wins, while they also got the better of the Loons in a pre-season friendly in February.
After a three-match unbeaten streak in MLS straight after the Leagues Cup break, the Whitecaps are now winless in four (D1 L3). They also drew the Canadian Championship final before prevailing on penalties last month.
Meanwhile, Minnesota have lost just one of their last six matches (W4 D1), but are unbeaten in their last three, keeping a clean sheet in each of those after a run of five without a shutout in the league.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Vancouver Whitecaps – 46.8%
Draw – 26.4%
Minnesota United – 26.8%
Leicester's heads are not down as wait for a win goes on, says Cooper
Steve Cooper insists the mood at Leicester City is not downbeat as the Foxes' wait for a first Premier League win rolls into matchday seven.
Leicester fought back from 2-0 down away at Arsenal last time out, only for two goals in second-half stoppage time from the Gunners to break their resolve.
Attention now turns to a home game against Bournemouth, who beat Leicester's fellow promoted side Southampton 3-1 on Monday.
And though Leicester sit in 17th without a win to their name, Cooper is not down in the doldrums.
As reported by Leicestershire Live, he said: "We're not heads down and we're not of the mindset that we'll be okay either.
"Both of those mindsets are dangerous. We're in the middle of that, where we're frustrated that we haven’t been able to get more out of the games, but there's a constant determination to put things right.
"We have to make sure the mindset is right with the players. I really believe that will happen, convinced of it, that we will get what we want from this season."
One bright spark this season for Leicester came off the pitch, as they won an appeal that means they cannot be penalised by the Premier League for an alleged breach of the competition's financial rules in the 2022-23 season.
This means Leicester are extremely unlikely to be hit with a points deduction for that supposed breach.
"The landscape has definitely changed on that front," said Cooper.
"Even when that was looming over us, it wasn't interfering with our daily work either.
"What we want to achieve, as we decided on, it's still very much achievable. When we achieve it, we will look back and say it was a rocky road."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Leicester City - Wilfred Ndidi
Bukayo Saka (five) is the only Premier League player with more assists than Ndidi (four) this season.
Ndidi's four assists is just one fewer than he managed in 32 Championship appearances last term, while it is already his joint-best in a single Premier League campaign (also four in 2020-21).
Bournemouth - Antoine Semenyo
Only Erling Haaland (31) has had more shots than Semenyo (28) in the Premier League this season, with Semenyo the only Bournemouth player to score more than once so far (three).
The Ghana international has also completed the most dribbles (eight) and had the most touches in the opposition box (34) of any Cherries player in the competition this term.
MATCH PREDICTION: BOURNEMOUTH WIN
Cooper has never beaten Bournemouth in five attempts in all competitions (D2 L3). It is the joint-most he has ever faced an opponent as a manager without ever winning (also five vs Manchester United).
Leicester have faced more shots than any other side in the Premier League this season (114), with their 34 faced against Arsenal last time out their most on record (since 2003-04) in a single match in the competition.
However, since winning four consecutive away league games in November/December last season, Bournemouth have won just three of their last 13 on the road (D3 L7), with two of those wins coming against sides in the relegation zone.
That being said, Bournemouth have won each of their last three Premier League games against Leicester, their joint-longest winning run against the Foxes in their league history (also three between 1987 and 1989).
Leicester have won just two of their 12 Premier League games against Bournemouth (D5 L5), with both of those victories coming at the King Power Stadium in 2019 (2-0 in March, 3-1 in August).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Leicester City - 31.5%
Bournemouth - 43.3%
Draw - 25.1%
Szoboszlai 'loving' midfield unity with Mac Allister and Gravenberch
Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai "loves" playing alongside Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in Arne Slot's new-look midfield.
Szoboszlai had an up and down first season at Liverpool following a big-money switch from RB Leipzig.
The Hungary international has started eight of Liverpool's nine matches this season, including Wednesday's 2-0 win over Bologna in the Champions League.
Szoboszlai has formed a strong midfield trio alongside Mac Allister and Gravenberch, and he is revelling excelling in the unit.
He told Liverpool's official website: "I love to play with them. I said it before, a lot of qualities what these two have – but the whole team [as well].
"The midfield is not enough. Of course it's an important role but we need everybody, we need the bench as well, we need the whole squad because there's going to be times where it's going to be hard and I think there are still 60 games to come!"
Slot has been shortlisted for the Premier League's Manager of the Month award in September.
Liverpool sit top of the standings with 15 points, having won all but one of their league matches under Slot, losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in September.
"If you take the Nottingham Forest game away then it's a perfect start," added Szoboszlai.
"We are top of the league and we have to continue like this."
The Reds take on Crystal Palace in Saturday's early kick-off in the Premier League.
Slot is looking to become just the fourth manager in Premier League history to win each of his first four away games in the competition after Felipe Scolari (first eight), John Gregory (five) and Bobby Gould (four).
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Crystal Palace - Jean-Philippe Mateta
Mateta has scored 15 goals in his last 11 home games for Palace in all competitions, netting multiple goals in five of these 11 appearances (four braces, one hat-trick).
Liverpool - Mohamed Salah
Salah has scored in all three of Liverpool’s Premier League away games so far this season.
There have been nine previous occasions of a player scoring in his side's first four on the road in a single campaign – Salah could be the first player to do so twice (also in 2021-22).
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Liverpool have won all three of their Premier League away games this season – only in 1990-91 and 2019-20 have they ever won their opening four away games in a league campaign.
Palace, on the other hand, remain winless in their six Premier League games so far this season (D3 L3). Only in 1992-93 (eight), 1994-95 (seven), 2004-05 (seven) and 2017-18 (seven) have they gone longer without a win from the start of a top-flight campaign, being relegated at the end of the first three of those.
In 30 previous Premier League meetings between Palace and Liverpool, 14 have been won by the away side (47%). This is the highest away win ratio of any of the 109 fixtures to be played 30+ times in the competition's history.
Palace have conceded more Premier League goals against Liverpool than they have against any other opponent both overall (69) and at home (38). Indeed, the Reds are responsible for the Eagles' two biggest home defeats in the competition’s history (6-1 in August 1994, 7-0 in December 2020).
Each of Liverpool's last four Premier League defeats against Crystal Palace have come at Anfield – they are unbeaten in their last nine at Selhurst Park (W8 D1) since a 3-1 loss in November 2014.
Palace have lost 11 of their last 14 Premier League meetings with Liverpool (W1 D2), though that sole victory was in their last such meeting at Anfield in April.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Crystal Palace - 18.5%
Liverpool - 60%
Draw - 21.6%
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