Manchester City have had significant injury struggles recently and a run of four fixtures against Chelsea was not ideal for their freshness.

With defender Laia Aleixandri having to be replaced by Laura Wienroither at the last minute and Miedema, Kerolin and Jill Roord all being benched, the visitors were severely weakened.

There were multiple sloppy moments in their build-up play which allowed Brighton to counter, but the hosts lacked the quality needed in the final third to take advantage and City’s superior end product ultimately made the difference.

Brighton’s defence continually held their shape and closed down spaces to prevent City producing much of note going forwards, while Fran Kirby and Nikita Parris were an ever-present threat up top for the hosts.

Kirby picked holes in the City defence with her good vision and quality passes, while Poppy Pattinson’s overlapping runs often caught out Wienroither.

Manager Dario Vidosic was disappointed with the result but thought there were “lots of positives” in his side’s performance.

That it took until they had conceded a second goal for Brighton to finally find a way to hit the back of the net will be frustrating for Vidosic given their ample opportunities.

“We forced a team like Man City who usually dominate the possession stats, dominate everything, we forced them back and turned them into a transitional team in the second half,” Vidosic said.

“[There are] positives to take away but we are disappointed to not get something at least out of this game.”

The Seagulls had 23 shots to City’s 12 and managed to have marginally more possession, but they only hit the target four times.

A moment of quality from Fowler – who worked hard to put pressure on Brighton up top – fashioned the opener as she rolled the ball past her markers before delivering her seventh league assist of the campaign.