Man City humble Brighton to keep pressure on Arsenal

Bighton, England: Phil Foden struck twice as Manchester Metropolis stepped up their bid for a fourth Premier League crown in a row with a ruthless 4-0 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday.

A day after Liverpool’s title problem suffered an enormous blow with a 2-0 defeat at Everton, Metropolis saved up the stress on leaders Arsenal with a dominant show that left them one level behind the London membership with a recreation in hand.

“I do not know if it was assertion, clearly each recreation is numerous stress however the one factor we are able to do is attempt to carry out in addition to we did immediately,” Metropolis midfielder Kevin De Bruyne advised Sky Sports activities.

De Bruyne’s excellent diving header put Metropolis, lacking prime scorer Erling Haaland attributable to damage, forward within the seventeenth minute.

“It would not occur an excessive amount of, does it? I believe the one approach I might attain it was leaping to the ball, and it goes in like a bit of lob, but it surely’s clearly not one thing I am actually good at,” De Bruyne stated after netting his first headed aim within the Premier League.

Foden scored his first with a deflected free kick and Brighton defensive errors allowed Bernardo Silva to win the ball and arrange Foden to brush a shot into the underside nook earlier than halftime.

“With Kev’s first aim and a bit fortunate with my second aim, it settled us a bit of bit and we grew into the sport, within the first half was scary with the way in which we attacked,” Foden stated.

Foden grew to become solely the third participant to attain 50 top-flight targets beneath supervisor Pep Guardiola aged 23 or youthful, after Lionel Messi and Haaland.

Julian Alvarez accomplished the rout halfway by means of the second half and Brighton, who remained eleventh within the desk, by no means regarded able to launching a fightback.

Manchester Metropolis are unbeaten in 30 video games in all competitions with 24 wins and 6 attracts, making them the third English top-flight facet to succeed in that landmark after Nottingham Forest (40 in 1978) and Manchester United (34 in 1993-94 and 33 in 1998-99).

Their final loss excluding penalty shootouts was in opposition to Aston Villa in early December.

Brighton’s greatest probability got here when Metropolis keeper Ederson gifted them a late alternative when he raced out of his field, solely to fireside the ball straight at Odeluga Offiah who did not take benefit.

Metropolis head to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Sunday. They shut out the season with matches in opposition to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.