Manchester (England), Oct 21 (AP) Manchester City got its Premier League title defence back on track with a 2-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion built on early goals by Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland on Saturday.

City had lost its last two league games — to Wolverhampton and Arsenal — and was looking to avoid three in a row for the first time under Pep Guardiola.

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Alvarez put the champions ahead in the seventh minute by turning in a cut-back from Jeremy Doku, who was a danger every time he got the ball on the left wing.

Haaland added a second goal, and his ninth in the league this season, after he latched onto Carlos Baleba's errant back-pass and smashed a low shot into the net from just outside the area in the 19th.

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Brighton pulled a goal back through Ansu Fati in the 73rd minute.

The visitors had left back Solly March carried off on a stretcher in stoppage time, during which City defender Manuel Akanji was sent off for picking up a second yellow card. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)