The Norwegian’s pass for our winger in the 25th minute was his eighth assist of a league campaign which has seen him score a record 36 goals.
That sees him draw level with former Arsenal man Thierry Henry on 44 goal involvements. The French forward scored 24 and provided 20 assists in the 2002/03 season.
SHOP OUR PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS RANGE
City will finish our Premier League campaign, one which has seen us lift our third title in three seasons, at Brentford on Sunday with Haaland looking to surpass Henry.
With the title already sealed and FA Cup and Champions League finals still to come, Guardiola made a number of personnel changes for the game with Roberto De Zerbi’s sixth-placed side.
Foden‘s goal was cancelled out 13 minutes later by a wonder strike from young Brighton attacker Julio Enciso.
It brought to an end City’s 12-game winning run that has carried us past Arsenal and to the Premier League title.
However, we do extend our unbeaten streak across all competitions to 25 games, with another three left in the 2022/23 campaign.
This was the first time a Premier League match between Brighton and City has ended in a draw, with City winning 10 of the previous 11 meetings and one victory for the Seagulls.
DISCOVER MORE ABOUT OUR 2023/24 HOME KIT
The last time the two teams drew in a league match was in November 1984 in the old Second Division.
Below we’ll take a look at some other key stats from the game...
Foden loves Brighton
Phil Foden has scored six league goals against Brighton, twice as many as he’s managed against any other side in the Premier League.
However, this was the first time that City have failed to win a Premier League match when Foden scored the opening goal of the match, having done so in our previous nine such games.
The goal itself was expertly crafted from back to front, as the below graphic shows...
Beginning with Rodrigo and John Stones, our two central defenders on the night, exchanging passes. The ball was worked to Ilkay Gundogan and then to Riyad Mahrez, who made room on his left and sent Haaland through in behind the Brighton defence.
Instead of taking it himself, Haaland elected to pass to Foden who cut in on his right and squeezed it over the line.
Brighton’s shots on goal
Brighton fired in 20 shots at Stefan Ortega Moreno‘s goal.
Only Wolves (21 v Man City in December 2019) and Atletico Madrid (22 v Barcelona in March 2009) have ever attempted more shots in a top-flight match against a side managed by Pep Guardiola.
The German goalkeeper was equal to most of them, with only Enciso’s unstoppable piledriver finding the net.
The hosts also had two goals ruled out - one for offside against Danny Welbeck and another for handball against Kaoru Mitoma.
However, Ortega Moreno can be very pleased with his work on the night. The 30 year old has claimed nine clean sheets in just 13 starts this season.
The hosts also had two goals ruled out - one for offside against Danny Welbeck and another for handball against Kaoru Mitoma.
However, Ortega Moreno can be very pleased with his work on the night. The 30 year old has claimed nine clean sheets in just 13 starts this season.
He is yet to concede in the FA Cup, with the Blues now in the final.
The match as a whole ebbed and flowed in an entertaining fashion, with Brighton racking up the larger numbers in terms of shots and xG but City also creating a host of chances too.
The below graphic shows when each team was on top...
The further the line deviates towards the left, the more momentum Brighton had and the further right, the more on top City were.
It shows three major periods of attacking threat for City but more sustained periods of lower level threat from Brighton.
In the end, Brighton’s 20 shots to our 13 and xG of 2.37 compared to our 1.82 shows the hosts perhaps had slightly more of the play in the final thirds.
Lewis’ impact
Rico Lewis was our choice for Man of the Match.
The 18-year-old was again asked to play the hybrid role that combines full-back and midfield duties, starting from the left and stepping into the middle.
As the below heat map shows, he had influence in several areas.
In total, he has 75 touches and played 50 accurate passes. He also made three successful dribbles, proving he is not afraid to carry the ball towards the opposition.
However, his key impact came out of possession. He regained the ball 11 times in the match, the joint-most of any player on the pitch with Brighton’s Mitoma.
Premier League stats of the season
Erling Haaland‘s 36 Premier League goals have him eight ahead of nearest challenger Harry Kane in the race for the Golden Boot.
Kevin De Bruyne has 16 assists so far, which has him five ahead of Mo Salah and Bukayo Saka as the leading goal creator in the league.
City have scored 94 goals in the league this season, 11 better than Arsenal.
We have also played almost 3000 passes more than anyone else, having done 24,437 across our 37 games. Liverpool have the next most with 21,797.
