Brighton stun Man City, 10-man Man Utd beaten by Chelsea

MANCHESTER: Brighton inflicted a second straight Premier League defeat on Manchester City with a 1-0 win to close within two points of the leaders on Saturday, while Manchester United slumped to another damaging defeat for Michael Carrick at Chelsea.

Third-placed Brighton ended their wait for a first away win against City at the 18th attempt to bolster dreams of challenging for the title.

The Seagulls have never won a major trophy but have already beaten champions Arsenal convincingly this season to show their title The Seagulls have never won a major trophy but have already beaten champions Arsenal convincingly this season to show their title credentials.

Fabian Hurzeler’s men got revenge for defeat to City on penalties in the League Cup on Wednesday.

Hurzeler felt aggrieved at that result after his side twice led at the Etihad. This time they held on after Yasin Ayari slotted them into an 11th-minute lead.City won their opening seven league games as Enzo Maresca made a flawless start to the daunting task of succeeding Pep Guardiola.In this moment we are conceding silly goals that we can avoid,” said Maresca. “I think we did enough to deserve something but we need to move on and try to win games.”The Red Devils were left to regret not taking advantage of a series of first half chances to take the lead before they imploded in the second period to sit outside the relegation zone only on goal difference.

Morgan Rogers was allowed to run straight through the heart of the United defence to open the scoring.

Lisandro Martinez then did his under-pressure manager no favours with two quickfire yellow cards, the second of which also conceded a penaltyThe two halves of football couldn’t probably be further apart,” said Carrick, who added he expects to be in charge for Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Roma.

“We looked in a good place going into half-time and then found a way of unravelling it second half.”

Crystal Palace may beat United to a managerial change after Pierre Sage’s side were easily beaten 2-0 at Tottenham to remain in the relegation zone.

Defeat for City means Arsenal can go top of the table if they avoid losing at Liverpool on Sunday.

However, the 10-time English champions know their results on the field may count for little this season unless they can 

Bart Verbruggen was inspired in the Brighton goal to see off a City onslaught after half-time.