Manchester City title hopes suffer blow after Brighton defeat

Manchester City remain firmly in the driving seat in the Women's Super League title race - but they might be making life difficult for themselves. A 3-2 defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday has probably cost them the opportunity to be crowned champions next week, and the trophy's destination may not be decided until the final day. Andree Jeglertz delivered 16 wins from his first 19 WSL games in his debut season as head coach. His 20th league game was one to forget though, as Brighton bounced back from conceding an early opener to punish City's profligacy in front of goal. "I'm not worried. You learn a lot in these games and I am fully sure that when we are back in training, we will be focused for Liverpool next week," Jeglertz told Sky Sports. "It is still in our hands. We will do everything we can to finish off with two wins." If Arsenal were to win all three of their games in hand - starting with bottom side Leicester City on Wednesday - they could pile pressure on City. But it is City's to lose, and they will be looking for ruthlessness in their remaining two matches - Liverpool at home and West Ham away on the final day - to erase all doubt and clinch a first league title since 2016. If Jeglertz's side win those, Arsenal will be powerless to prevent City lifting the silverware. Former Scotland captain Rachel Corsie, assessing City's post-Brighton situation for Sky Sports, said: "A tiny feeling of doubt has opened up. We thought it was cut and dried, but that was a bit of a wobble." Former Manchester City and England midfielder Izzy Christiansen added: "City were nowhere near their best and this makes the end to the season a whole lot more interesting." On Saturday, City created ample opportunities to add to Kerolin's opener in the fifth minute, but she and Khadija Shaw both failed to convert chances when through on goal. Instead, Brighton equalised on the stroke of half-time and carried that momentum into the second half. "It's about details," Jeglertz said. "It was a tough game, but it is about scoring goals. We created a lot of chances in the first half and we needed to score." Once the momentum shifted in Brighton's favour, City struggled to cope with the hosts' transitions and looked vulnerable to balls in behind the backline. "Brighton challenged us a lot - we need to protect our penalty box a little better," Jeglertz said. "It's important we learn from this game. Today, we dropped a couple of percentages in some moments and we were punished." Before kick-off, Jeglertz conceded the international break had been long. A near three-week gap between games cannot have been conducive to maintaining momentum, while the experienced Vivianne Miedema missed this game for family reasons. "Their performance was shaky and their possession nowhere near the level we've seen this season," Corsie said. To their credit, Brighton were excellent after a tough opening period and were thoroughly deserving of only their second WSL win over City in 15 attempts. "In the first half we were, if I can be quite blunt, awful," Brighton's former England midfielder Fran Kirby said. "We were lucky not to be 3-0 or 4-0. But we had belief and the second half was a really good performance from everyone."