City thrash Brighton

An excellent display from the defending champions saw Manchester City run out eventual 4-0 winners at the AMEX Stadium against Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League.

LINEUPS

BRI XI: Steele; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk*, Barco; Gross, Baleba; Lallana, Moder, Joao Pedro; Welbeck

BRI SUBS: Verbruggen, Igor, Webster, Offiah, Buonanotte, O’Mahony, Ansu Fati, Adingra, Julio Enciso

MCI XI: Ederson; Walker*, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovacic; Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne, Foden; Julian Alvarez

MCI SUBS: Stefan Ortega, Dias, Stones, Lewis, Sergio Gomez, Nunes, Grealish, Bobb, Doku

Action: Manchester City, chasing Arsenal at the top-of-the-table, were dominant throughout their trip down to the south coast to face a fading and out of form Brighton and Hove Albion.

In just 17 minutes, City had their lead when Kyle Walker, for what was the first but not the last time, took advantage of Valentin Barco’s inexperience to get down the line and cross for an excellent header from Kevin De Bruyne.

City soon doubled their lead, too, when a Phil Foden free-kick was indeed deflected in by Barco who was stood to the side of the wall and establish dominance for the visitors.

Brighton were then guilty of giving City a third soon after. Jason Steele laid the ball into Carlos Baleba and it was indeed Barco who eventually had his pocket picked in his own area before Phil Foden notched his second of the night from relatively close range.

"Brighton are PUNISHED" 😬

Phil Foden scores another for Man City! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/itkdlCBiJq

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 25, 2024

The second-half continued to be a one-way street with City eventually adding a fourth mid-way through the second period via their FIFA World Cup winner Julian Alvarez.

Walker, once again tormenting Barco, then managed to challenge Steele successfully and the ball popped up and out for Julian Alvarez to slide the ball in for a fourth in front of the travelling visiting fans.

Brighton steadied the ship and avoided a complete humiliation for the rest of the half with Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls restoring some pride with a late rally.

The big picture: Brighton and Hove Albion sit firmly in the middle-of-the-table with five games left of the 2023/24 campaign. The Seagulls are six points adrift of Newcastle United in the top seven and the European qualifying spots. Manchester City, on the other hand, have moved to within just a point of Arsenal at the top-of-the-table but the Cityzens do have a game-in-hand on the league leaders.

Man of the match: Kyle Walker. The former Tottenham Hotspur defender was absolutely exceptional and taught the young Valentin Barco a few lessons throughout the evening.

EVENTS

Kick-off

’17 | GOAL: De Bruyne (0-1)

’26 | GOAL: Foden (0-2)

’34 | GOAL: Foden (0-3)

Half-time

’62 | GOAL: Julian Alvarez (0-4)

Full-time