Manchester City under Enzo Maresca: top of the league, two defeats and an appeal

Manchester City lead the Premier League on goal difference after two straight league defeats under Enzo Maresca, with Haaland scoring and an appeal under way.

Manchester City are top of the Premier League and not entirely comfortable there.

They lost 1-0 at home to Brighton on Saturday, the second league defeat in a row after losing 2-1 at Aston Villa a week earlier. City still lead on goal difference with 21 points from nine, level with Arsenal who have a game fewer and go to Anfield on Sunday. The Guardian's reading of Saturday was that no alarm should be sounded: Yasin Ayari's 11th-minute winner came from one of Brighton's rare chances, and it followed what the paper thought was a wrongly awarded free-kick.

Manager and form

Enzo Maresca was appointed on 29 June, replacing Pep Guardiola, who resigned at the end of last season. His reign began with a 3-0 Community Shield defeat by Arsenal, then seven straight league wins, the last two of them 3-0 at Anfield and 3-2 at home to Ipswich. Then came the two defeats. In Europe they have beaten Porto 2-0 and AEK Athens 5-1 and lost 4-2 at home to Paris Saint-Germain.

Who matters

Erling Haaland, nine league goals and 13 in all competitions.
Enzo Fernández, signed from Chelsea for a reported £125m.
Elliot Anderson, £116m from Nottingham Forest.
Jérémy Doku, whose second-half arrival against Brighton in the EFL Cup on Wednesday transformed City, The Guardian said.

Maresca said this week that goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is droppable, according to The Guardian's live blog. Gerónimo Rulli saved two penalties in Wednesday's shootout win.

Owners and money

City belong to City Football Group, with Khaldoon Al Mubarak as chairman, and the transfer market has been busy in both directions. Savinho left for Tottenham (£75m), Rodri for Barcelona (about £65.4m), Tijjani Reijnders for Al-Qadsiah (£52m). That is income towards the £116m and £125m deals above.

The issue underneath is the decision. The Premier League said on 29 September that an independent Commission had found the club guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of its financial rules over the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18, and the majority of charges over failing to co-operate with its investigation. City say the club is innocent and lodged an appeal, which the league confirmed on 2 October. That hearing is private until the outcome can be published. Sanction, the league says, will be dealt with separately in a further hearing with the Commission. A leading lawyer told BBC Sport that City face "substantial hurdles" on appeal. We could find no announced outcome on either.

The season so far

Seven wins, two defeats, three games into the eight-game Champions League league phase and an EFL Cup quarter-final at home to Bradford City in the week of 14 December, after a penalty shootout win over Brighton.

Next up

RB Leipzig away in the Champions League on Wednesday 4 November, and then Nottingham Forest away on Saturday 7 November.

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