Manchester City thrash Brighton 4-1 courtesy of Phil Foden's brace

Manchester City thrashed Brighton 4-1 in the Premier League fixture at Falmer stadium on Saturday. Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring for Manchester City, early in the first half, before Phil Foden netted a quick brace to triple the lead. Meanwhile  Alexis Mac Allister pulled one back for the hosts but then, Riyad Mahrez completed the drubbing with a stoppage time goal to take Manchester City’s unbeaten run to eight games. The win helped Pep Guardiloa’s side to within two points of league leaders Chelsea.

Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was called into action within six minutes of kick-off as Joao Cancelo tested the 23-year-old with a low drive at the near post. In the 10th minute, Lewis Dunk rescued the hosts with a brilliant goal line clearance as Gabriel Jesus’ shot nearly went in. However, City broke the deadlock in the 13th minute as Sanchez made a mistake. The Spanish goalkeeper made a mess of a high ball under pressure from Jesus and Bernardo Silva’s overhead pass was tucked in by Gundogan from close range. Although the Brighton players appealed for a foul by Jesus on Sanchez, VAR review showed that there wasn’t enough in Jesus’ challenge to disallow the goal.

Three minutes from the half-hour mark, A quick counter attack was finished off by Foden to double the lead. Silva released Grealish with a through ball and the English playmaker drove forward before setting up Foden to slot the ball into an empty net.

Within three minutes of the goal, City scored their third of the night. Jesus found Grealish on the left side of the penalty area, the Englishman’s initial shot was blocked by Sanchez. However Jesus was quick to the rebound and his shot deflected off Foden before going into the net.

City stood firm in the second half

Brighton’s only attempt on goal in the first half came three minutes from the break, when Solly March tested Ederson with a powerful strike from outside the box. Graham Potter’s side came out with a bit more intent as they pushed for a goal in the second half. Leandro Trossard’s cross from the left side found Pascal Grob at the far post but the German midfielders shot on the turn went straight to Ederson.

On the hour-mark, Trossard tested Ederson with a low stinging drive that somehow bounced off the Brazilian’s hand and went over the bar. For all the good work done by the home side they were awarded a penalty 12 minutes from time as Mwepu was fouled by Ederson inside the box. Allister stepped up and converted the spot-kick. It proved to be just a consolation goal as Mahrez restored the three goal lead in stoppage time.

Graham Potter said: “I’m so proud of the players. We are playing against a top team and they deserved to win but the players did everything we asked them to do. They were together, had spirit and quality. We are disappointed to lose but our performance was something to be proud of. The players responded and did not feel sorry for themselves and accepted the quality of the opposition. We will take a lot forward from this game.”

Pep Guardiola said: “We win the game because we have good players, don’t estimate too much the decisions of the managers. We saw what they do, we figured out maybe we have the space because when they play man to man they have one man free just the ‘keeper. They are incredibly aggressive, when the passes are more than 5-10 metres they win it after. Most importantly when they have the ball they know exactly what to do, not just defend well and after channels. They occupy the space really good.

“They have all the mechanisms of a big team. I know it from playing against Swansea when Graham was there and last season, always they try to play, I admire for that. Not a top-four team but they play like it. That’s why they know how difficult it is and a big compliment for our team.”