City were missing Josco Guardiol, Ruben Dias and John Stones from the backline, with none of the three expected to return to action until at least the next month.
This had forced Guardiola to recall academy product Max Alleyne from his loan spell at Watford. The 20-year-old was given his first-team debut on a cool evening in the top-flight cauldron.
Alleyne has performed admirably on the big stage and it is not his fault that he has been included in such circumstances, as Nico O’Reilly was brought into the set-up due to last season’s injury crisis.
In the end, Erling Haaland’s 150th goal for the club did not matter as he conspired to drop six points in a week, giving Arsenal a huge boost.
With the draw at Aston Villa, Mikel Arteta’s men have a golden opportunity to move eight points clear – a scenario they only dreamed of last week.
“If you don’t win games, we can’t think about these things,” Guardiola said of the title race. “Our result against Nottingham Forest was incredible [in City’s final game of 2025] And after that we played three games and we played really well.
“They have pace, Brighton move really well. We performed really well in general except for the first five to 10 minutes and maybe a little less in the first half – in the last 15-20 minutes we had incredible chances.
“Expected goals don’t give me anything. It’s how you play for goals and we couldn’t do that today.”
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on Sky Sports: “It feels like a big week. Manchester City playing at home against Brighton feels like another punch in the ribs.”
“Arsenal will go to bed tonight very confident about where they are at the moment, ahead of tomorrow night’s big game against Liverpool.”
Guardiola also appeared to be showing the stress that comes with losing more points in the title race, clashing with Brighton boss Fabian Herzeler on the touchline.
German Herzeler said “emotions are part of the football game”, while the City boss said everything was “absolutely” fine between the pair.
City winger Jeremy Doku said: “I think a draw at home is never a good issue. We are not that happy and would have liked three points.
“We don’t really look at the table. We try to stay ourselves and score more goals.”