City were missing Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias and John Stones in the backline, with none of the three expected to return to action until at least next month.
He had forced Guardiola to withdraw academy product Max Alleyne from his loan at Watford. The 20-year-old made his first-team debut on a cold afternoon in the top-flight cauldron.
Alleyne performed admirably on the big stage and it is not his fault that he was thrown into this under such circumstances, just as Nico O’Reilly was brought into the squad due to last season’s injury crisis.
In the end, Erling Haaland’s 150th goal for the club mattered little as they conspired to drop six points in a week, giving Arsenal a huge boost.
With Aston Villa also drawing, Mikel Arteta’s men have a golden opportunity to go eight points clear, a scenario they could only have dreamed of last week.
“If you don’t win games, we can’t think about these things,” Guardiola said of the title race. “We had an incredible result against Nottingham Forest. [in City’s final game of 2025] and then we played three games and we played very well.
“They have momentum, Brighton move very well. Except for the first five to 10 minutes, we did very well overall and maybe a little less so in the first half; in the last 15 to 20 minutes we had incredible opportunities.”
“Expected goals don’t give me anything. It’s the way of playing to get goals and today we couldn’t do that.”
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on Sky Sports: “It feels like a great week. Manchester City’s draw at home against Brighton is like another punch in the ribs.
“Arsenal will go to bed tonight, before tomorrow night’s big game against Liverpool, and I’m very confident about where they are now.”
Guardiola also appears to be showing the stress that comes with losing more points in the title race, clashing with Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler on the touchline.
German Hurzeler said that “emotions are part of the game of football”, while the City manager said the relationship between the two was “absolutely good”.
City winger Jeremy Doku added: “I think a draw at home is never a good point. We’re not that happy and would have preferred three points.
“We don’t really look at the table. We try to be ourselves and score more goals.”
