Erling Haaland made more Premier League history and Omar Marmoush demonstrated his firepower but Manchester City had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Brighton on Saturday after making two frustrating errors at the back.
Stefan Ortega was left embarrassed for failing to even attempt to stop Pervis Estupinan's free-kick, which cancelled out Haaland's penalty. City restored their lead with a lethal strike from Marmoush but gave the lead away again via an Abdukodir Khusanov own goal.
Just one point separated the two teams at kick off and the winner of the game knew they would be sleeping in the top five and in the Champions League spots. City had an early scare when Kaoru Mitoma nipped into the area to bear down on Ortega but he fouled the goalkeeper en route to bundling the ball over the line, also using his arm in the process. City then got a lift when Marmoush was felled by Adam Webster after good link-up play with Haaland.
The Norwegian duly buried the penalty in the bottom corner, becoming the fastest player to reach 100 Premier League goal contributions (84 strikes and 16 assists). But City's lead lasted only 10 minutes, Estupinan scoring with a fine free-kick although big questions have to be asked of Ortega, who misjudged the flight of the ball, believing it to be heading wide then watching on in horror as it hit the post and bounced in.
As with the build-up to the penalty, City struck again thanks to a quick breakaway, Gundogan robbing a Brighton player and giving the ball to Marmoush, who thundered it into the net. There was a big let off for City before the break when Joao Pedro fired wide after a huge mix-up in the defence.
They were then punished early in the second half for more unconvincing defending. City failed to clear the danger from a corner, Jack Hinshelwood sent the ball towards goal and it took a huge bounce off an unsuspecting Khusanov and trickled into the net.
Each side could have won it as Nico Gonzalez hit the post for City and Brighton raced down the other end, with Hinshelwood firing into the side netting from close range. His team-mate Carlos Baleba wasted an even bigger chance later on, smashing way over the bar after receiving the ball unmarked in an ideal position in the box.
The draw left City fifth in the Premier League table, failing to climb above Chelsea and leaving them vulnerable to Newcastle going ahead of them if the Magpies can win their game in hand.
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