Manchester City waltzed to a routine 4-0 victory against Brighton on Thursday night to keep them in control of the Premier League title race.
Pep Guardiola’s side found themselves out of sight with a three-goal lead at the break, with Phil Foden’s brace adding to Kevin De Bruyne’s earlier fantastic diving header.
Julian Alvarez’s effort added some gloss to the scoreline in the second half as Man City moved to within one point of league leaders Arsenal with a game in hand.
How the game unfolded
After Arsenal demolished Chelsea and Liverpool fell to defeat in the Merseyside derby, the pressure was on the reigning champions to secure victory on the south coast. They made a bright start to proceedings, enjoying the majority of possession, but it was Brighton‘s Danny Welbeck who drew the first save of the evening from Ederson with his tame long-range strike.
However, it didn’t take long for City to make their territorial dominance count and it was De Bruyne who put them ahead with a remarkable effort after 17 minutes. Kyle Walker’s cross found the midfielder in the box and his brilliant diving header looped over the outstretched glove of Jason Steele.
It took just eight minutes for City to double their advantage and there was some controversy surrounding Foden’s effort. The England international won a free-kick on the edge of the box after slipping under no contact, with his subsequent effort taking a huge deflection off Pascal Gross en-route to the back of the net.
But there was nothing contentious about City’s third, with Foden grabbing his double to kill the game before the break. Brighton were caught playing out from the back and Bernardo Silva’s interception fell at the 23-year-old’s feet before he curled an effortless shot into the far corner in the 34th minute.
Brighton felt they should have had a penalty just a minute after the restart when Gross went down after contact with Rodri, but the referee and VAR didn’t deem it enough to award a spot kick.
City did eventually grab a fourth just after the hour mark and the home side were once again left frustrated by the officials. The ball appeared to brush Walker’s hand on its way to Alvarez following a collision with Steele, with the Argentine slotting home from close range. Referee Jarred Gillett was left unmoved by the incident, as was VAR official John Brooks.
Brighton’s anger at the officials reached boiling point in the 70th minute when Joao Pedro appeared to be tripped in the penalty area by Josko…
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