Man City held by Brighton to leave Champions League hopes in balance
MANCHESTER: Manchester City twice blew the lead in a 2-2 draw against Brighton on Saturday as Abdukodir Khusanov’s own goal dented their bid to qualify for the Champions League. Pep Guardiola’s side led through Erling Haaland’s early penalty at the Etihad Stadium. But Pervis Estupinan hauled Brighton level and, although Omar Marmoush restored City’s lead just before the interval, the Seagulls levelled again in the second half thanks to Khusanov’s mistake. City remain in fifth place in the Premier League, one point behind fourth-placed Chelsea, who visit Arsenal on Sunday, and one point ahead of Newcastle and seventh-placed Brighton. The top four are guaranteed a Champions League place, while fifth is also likely to be enough depending on the result of the English clubs remaining in European competitions this term. Reduced to fighting for a Champions League berth after a shockingly bad season, City are still far from certain to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition. That would have been unthinkable just 12 months ago, when City were marching toward a fourth consecutive English title and a sixth in seven years. Since losing 7-0 at Nottingham Forest, Brighton had reeled off four consecutive league wins and this was another impressive display from Fabian Hurzeler’s side, who still harbor genuine hopes of reaching the Champions League for the first time. Guardiola made four changes from the 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest as Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Ederson and Matheus Nunes were replaced by Marmoush, Ilkay Gundogan, Stefan Ortega and Rico Lewis. City won a penalty in the 11th minute when Haaland found Marmoush in the Brighton area and the Egyptian was brought down by Adam Webster. Haaland took the spot-kick, firing