Brighton stun faltering Man City in Premier League

Manchester City have never had it this bad under Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola has never had it this bad in his managerial career.

A sense of crisis is looming over the champions of England after they lost a fourth straight game in all competitions, 2-1 at Brighton, and slipped five points behind Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday. Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-0 thanks to goals by Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah.

Second-placed City hadn't lost four games in a row since 2006 - two years before the Abu Dhabi takeover of the club and 10 years before Guardiola's game-changing arrival.

As for Guardiola, widely regarded as the world's best coach, he had never lost four straight matches anywhere in his illustrious career that began in 2007.

So, Guardiola was asked, is this the end of the era, after leading City to an unprecedented four straight top-flight league titles?

"It's what the people want, right?" he posed. "That's normal - we won a lot. I would just like to have all the squad (available)."

That won't be happening anytime soon considering star centre midfielder Rodri is out for the season with an ACL injury. Guardiola also had his best four centre backs - Ruben Dias, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake - unavailable, while playmaker Kevin De Bruyne is clearly not sharp enough on return from injury.

"When we play bad, I am the first to say, 'Oh, oh, I don't like it.' But I don't have that feeling," Guardiola said.

Indeed, City were dominant in the first half and went in front when Erling Haaland scored his league-leading 12th goal of the campaign.

However, like in the 4-1 loss at Sporting in the Champions League on Tuesday, City couldn't sustain their level and Brighton fought back, with Joao Pedro equalising in the 78th and setting up Matt O'Riley for the winner in the 83rd on his Premier League debut.

City's losing run started at Tottenham in the English League Cup last week, before a 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth in the league - their first league defeat in 11 months.

"We cannot do it every three days, three days, four days, three days with the (injury) situation we have," Guardiola said, adding, "I would love to have the players (back)."

Liverpool have won nine of their 11 league games in a breathtaking start under new manager Arne Slot, who has got Salah playing in top form.

Salah set up Nunez after a fast breakaway in the 20th minute and scored himself on another counterattack in the 84th for his 10th goal of the season.

Trent Alexander-Arnold went off injured for Liverpool in the first half.

Wolverhampton secured their 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 on their return to the top flight.

Harry Wilson scored another late goal to help Fulham continue their impressive season by winning at 10-man Crystal Palace 2-0.

Wilson's two stoppage-time goals earned Fulham a dramatic win at Brentford on Monday. This time, he built on Emile Smith Rowe's opener by netting in the 83rd minute, after Daichi Kamada was red-carded for Palace.

Brentford bounced back from that painful loss to Fulham 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.