The top four are guaranteed a Champions League place, while fifth is also likely to be enough depending on the result of the English clubs remaining in European competitions this term.

Reduced to fighting for a Champions League berth after a shockingly bad season, City are still far from certain to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition.

That would have been unthinkable just 12 months ago, when City were marching towards a fourth consecutive English title and a sixth in seven years.

Since losing 7-0 at Nottingham Forest, Brighton had reeled off four consecutive league wins and this was another impressive display from Fabian Hurzeler’s side, who still harbour genuine hopes of reaching the Champions League for the first time.

Guardiola made four changes from the 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest as Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Ederson and Matheus Nunes were replaced by Marmoush, Ilkay Gundogan, Stefan Ortega and Rico Lewis.

City won a penalty in the 11th minute when Haaland found Marmoush in the Brighton area and the Egyptian was brought down by Adam Webster.

Haaland took the spot-kick, firing low into the bottom corner for his 100th Premier League goal involvement (84 goals and 16 assists) in just 94 appearances.

The Norway striker is the first Premier League player to reach 100 goal involvements in fewer than 100 games.

Not for the first time in their turbulent season, sloppy City were unable to hold onto their lead as Brighton drew level in the 21st minute.

Estupinan let rip with a fierce free-kick from 20 yards that caught out the wrong-footed Ortega, who was rooted to the spot as it hit the post and flashed into the net.

City tried to respond but Haaland lashed over from Gundogan’s pass and Savinho’s shot was blocked by Jan Paul van Hecke.

Guardiola’s men kept pressing and were rewarded in the 39th minute.

Gundogan picked off a miscued Brighton pass and unfurled a precise pass to set up Marmoush for a blistering finish.

City were still fortunate to go in ahead at half-time after a mix up between Nico Gonzalez and Ruben Dias left space for Joao Pedro to shoot just wide.

It took City’s leaky defence just three minutes of the second half to surrender the lead for a second time.

Adam Webster crossed into the area and Jack Hinshelwood’s shot appeared to be going wide until it took a deflection off City defender Khusanov.

With City’s rearguard in disarray, Brighton should have gone ahead, but Yankuba Minteh shot wastefully wide from close-range after Diego Gomez picked out the Gambian.

In a frantic finale, Brighton’s Carlos Baleba smashed over with the goal at his mercy.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest continued their push for an unlikely top-four finish with a comfortable 4-2 win at relegation-threatened Ipswich Town in the Premier League on Saturday.

Forest remained in third place on 54 points, five ahead of fourth-placed Chelsea, who have a game in hand and face second-placed Arsenal on Sunday. Ipswich are in 18th place and nine points adrift of the safety zone.

Defender Nikola Milenkovic opened the scoring in the 35th minute with a fierce rising volley from close range.

Two minutes later, Anthony Elanga netted a brilliant curling effort before immediately doubling his tally as he latched onto a long ball forward from Milenkovic and squeezed his shot under Ipswich goalkeeper Alex Palmer.

All three of Forest’s first-half goals came in a rampant seven-minute spell, which sent Nuno Espirito Santo’s Forest into the interval with a comfortable 3-0 lead.

Ipswich pulled one back in the 82nd minute as Jens Cajuste created space with a delightful pirouette on the edge of the box before firing home to briefly give home fans hope, but that hope was quickly crushed.

Substitute Jota Silva capped off a swift counter-attack to add Forest’s fourth before George Hirst claimed a consolation goal for Ipswich in added time.

Jake O’Brien headed a last-gasp equaliser as Everton stretched their unbeaten Premier League run to nine games with a 1-1 draw against West Ham United in the ‘David Moyes Derby’ at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek put the Hammers ahead in the 67th, curling the ball into the bottom-right corner after a pass from Jarrod Bowen.

Ireland defender O’Brien rescued the home side’s run from close range in the 90th after Everton had a first-half penalty decision overruled by VAR when a replay showed Beto had kicked the turf rather than being fouled.

“We just flooded the box with bodies. We were chasing the game a bit,” O’Brien told the BBC.

“The first half we had a lot of chances. We were flat for 20 minutes and that’s when they caught us but then we got together and chased the game.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers beat bottom side Southampton 2-1 at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday as the visitors took a giant step towards Premier League survival thanks to a double from Jorgen Strand Larsen.