Man City loses a fourth straight game in its worst slump under Guardiola

By Steve Douglas, The Associated Press on November 9, 2024.

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha celebrates scoring his side's second goal during the British Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton, at Molineux, Wolverhampton, England, Saturday Nov. 9, 2024. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Manchester City is in its worst slump in Pep Guardiola’s reign.

The English champions lost a fourth straight game in all competitions as Brighton came from behind to win 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.

City hasn’t lost four games in a row in all competitions since 2006 – two years before the Abu Dhabi takeover of the club.

Guardiola has never lost four straight matches anywhere in his managerial career.

Erling Haaland put City in front in the 23rd minute with his league-leading 12th goal of the campaign, but Brighton fought back as Joao Pedro equalized in the 78th and set up Matt O’Riley for the winner in the 83rd.

Second-placed City stayed two points behind Liverpool, which hosted Aston Villa later.

Guardiola’s team’s losing run started at Tottenham in the English League Cup last week, before a 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth in the league and a 4-1 reverse at Sporting in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Earlier, Wolverhampton secured its first win in the league and climbed off the bottom of the standings by beating Southampton 2-0 to ease the pressure on manager Gary O’Neil.

Brazil forward Matheus Cunha set up Pablo Sarabia for a second-minute goal and scored himself in the second half to inspire Wolves at Molineux.

Southampton dropped to last place and has lost nine of its 11 matches since returning to the top flight.

Fulham continued its impressive season by winning at 10-man Crystal Palace 3-0 to move level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea. Emile Smith Rowe opened the scoring and Harry Wilson, whose two stoppage-time goals earned a win at Brentford on Monday, added two more late goals after Daichi Kamada was red-carded for Palace.

Brentford bounced back from that painful loss with a 3-2 victory over Bournemouth, thanks to Yoane Wissa’s double and a 50th-minute winner from Mikkel Damsgaard.

West Ham drew at home with Everton 0-0 in the other game, with England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford producing a breathtaking save in stoppage time to preserve a point for the visitors.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer