Brighton 0, Manchester City 4
Phil Foden scored twice as Manchester City thrashed Brighton at the Amex Stadium to go second in the Premier League.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Blues stand 1 point behind league leaders Arsenal having played a game less than Mikel Arteta’s men and face a trip to relegation threatened Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
They are also unbeaten in 30 games in all competitions having become the third top flight side to reach this record after Nottingham Forest (40 in 1978) and Manchester United (34 in 93/94 and 33 in 98/99).
And in keeping with a now traditional late sprint for the title City became only the fourth Premier League side to score four or more goals in four consecutive Premier League matches – following Manchester United in April 2000, City themselves in May 2022, and Arsenal in March this year.
In doing so, Foden scored his 50th Premier League goal for the Blues, becoming only the third player to score 50 top flight goal for Pep Guardiola while under the age of 23 – joining Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland.
Kevin De Bruyne and Julian Alvarez scored the other two goals and although there were penalty shouts for infringements by Rodri and Josko Gvardiol in truth the game was comfortable for a City side in the middle of a tight title run-in despite some very kind refereeing by Jarred Gillett.
De Bruyne opened the scoring with a spectacular flying header after Foden outmanoeuvred the Brighton defence before releasing Kyle Walker down the right flank.
The England right back stood the ball up and sent it towards the penalty spot where the Belgian maestro opted to fly in and score his first Premier League header after 17 minutes.
City’s second goal came from a free kick by Phil Foden who won a free kick on the edge of the area.
With Kevin De Bruyne looking ready to take the set piece from 20 yards the Seagulls were instead surprised by Foden’s curling effort which took a wicked deflection off Pascal Gross to wrong foot Jason Steele in the Brighton goal after 26 minutes.
And Foden soon had his second after a loose ball out of defence by teenage defender Valentin Barco was charged down by Bernardo Silva and Foden gobbled up the loose ball before sending a low shot past Steele 8 minutes later as Brighton paid the price for a massive error while trying to play out from the back.
With the game safe Julian Alvarez was keen to get amongst the goals and he tested Steele with a tame shot after the break – City’s first shot on target that didn’t end up as a goal in the 59th minute.
The reprieve was short as Kyle Walker raced onto a long ball over the top – past Barco after 62 minutes – evaded his tackle and a desperate grab by Steele for the ball which then broke for Alvarez to slot into the unguarded net to break his 8 game goal drought.
Joao Pedro was bundled over by Josko Gvardiol after 70 minutes but no penalty was given – a decision ratified to the obvious disgust of the home fans who had already seen some earlier Rodri physicality in the area dismissed by the referee.
City’s first changes came in the 72nd minute when goalscorer Foden and De Bruyne were withdrawn in favour of Jack Grealish and Matheus Nunes.
And you knew the game was over when Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker, and Rodri were withdrawn with 11 minutes to go.
Rico Lewis, Sergio Gomez, and Jeremy Doku replaced them as City saw out the game comfortably as Brighton fashioned a late chance for Joao Pedro who put a chance for a late consolation wide from close range while Doku saw an injury time shot blocked by Steele.