Man City player ratings vs Brighton with one 8/10 but Matheus Nunes struggles

Manchester City player ratings from the Manchester Evening News as Pep Guardiola's side fell to a 2-1 defeat at Brighton.

Matheus Nunes was deemed to have handballed in the box

Manchester City threw away a 1-0 lead at Brighton to lose at the AMEX Stadium for the second year running. Erling Haaland had scored the opening goal and City looked comfortable for the opening hour.

However, a quadruple Brighton change midway through the second half instantly changed the mood inside the stadium and Brighton began to threaten. They quickly won a penalty when Lewis Dunk's effort hit Matheus Nunes's elbow and James Milner converted.

James Trafford made a terrific late stop to keep the game level but seconds later Brajan Gruda grabbed the winner.

Here are the City player ratings from the Manchester Evening News:

Trafford: Made two very good saves to keep Brighton out but couldn't stop the penalty. An outstanding effort to keep out the deflected Van Hecke effort at the end. 8

Nunes: Nearly caught out with sloppy play in the first half and his elbows were inexplicably high to give away the penalty. Worsened after it. 4

Khusanov: Played very well for a lot of the game, but it was a reckless tackle that earned him a yellow and led to the penalty. 6

Stones: Organised the defence well and is starting to glide again as he moves into midfield on a regular basis but fell apart with the team at the end. 6

Ait-Nouri: Made some excellent contributions going forward, including to win the ball back for Haaland's opener. A few moments where he was too loose though and he was booked. 6

Rodri: Looked rusty on his first start in 11 months - understandably! - but even as he works back to fitness his presence helped the team in the middle. 6

Silva: Put in plenty of useful work, although will be disappointed to have lost Dunk for the free-kick that brought the penalty. 6

Reijnders: Full of running, intelligent passing and clever passes in the final third. Unlucky that it didn't bring more. 7

Bobb: Had so much quality for everything but that final shot or pass in the box, troubling Brighton whenever he got on the ball. 7

Marmoush: A lovely ball through for Haaland should have brought a goal and his pace and touch got City out of a number of jams. 7

Haaland: Took his goal well but a player with his high standards could and probably should have had more. 6

Substitutes

O'Reilly (for Silva, 72): Struggled to get the ball down. 5

Doku (for Marmoush, 72): Couldn't offer much as City rarely got the ball. 6

Lewis (for Nunes, 85): Couldn't stop the tide. 5

Dias (for Khusanov, 85): Couldn't stop the tide. 5

Not used: Ederson, Ake, Akanji, Gonzalez, Gundogan