'Get what you deserve' – Brighton star dismisses Man City excuse and makes Kevin De Bruyne claim

Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke had little sympathy for Manchester City’s injury list after their 2-1 win against Pep Guardiola’s champions.

City were missing a number of key players at the Amex Stadium as they suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions as second half goals from Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley cancelled out Erling Haaland’s opener.

The likes of Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku, Rodri, John Stones, Ruben Dias and Oscar Bobb were all missing, while star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne was only fit enough to come on in the closing stages.

Brighton – who are now sixth in the Premier League – were also without a host of players as skipper Lewis Dunk, James Milner, Solly March, Yankuba Minteh, Ferdi Kadioglu and Adam Webster were all out, while Pedro, Carlos Baleba and O’Riley were only fit enough for the bench.

Van Hecke was at the heart of the action and enjoyed a strong tussle with Haaland throughout and also had a heated exchange with City boss Guardiola after the final whistle.

"Yes but we have injuries,” said the Netherlands international when asked about City’s problems. “Last season we had big injuries and not a lot of people were speaking about us when we had injuries.

"I think it is part of football that sometimes you have your best players injured. Of course it is harder to play against De Bruyne when he is fit because he is an unbelievable player but I think we miss some players."

Van Hecke also said he could feel City desire to win having lost the previous three but the 24-year-old felt Brighton’s second half substitutes made the difference.

"You have to be aware of it [losing the last three]. They really want to win because they are not used to losing. Yeah, you could feel that in the first 30 minutes. They were really at it. I think we are also a really great team and on our day, we can win against anybody which you saw today.

"You see the guys coming off the bench - they had a big impact on the team. You can see it in the crowd too. You get what you deserve so I think we should be really pleased with it. Even after last week, we lost there but I thought we did really well.

"We know we can beat the big teams but we also have to beat the lower teams in the table. We need to be consistent."