Phil Foden scored twice as Manchester City cruised to a 4-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion to keep pressure on Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table.
Chelsea sent out a warning running riot in a 7-0 win against Norwich City earlier on Saturday, but City responded with a convincing win of their own to close the gap on the leaders to two points.
Foden’s brace at the Amex Community Stadium came after Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring as the visitors went three goals ahead inside 31 minutes in a dominant first-half proceeding.
Foden scored twice as Manchester City defeated Brighton 4-1 in a Premier League clash. | PHOTO: Manchester Evening News |
Brighton improved in the second half and pulled back a deserved consolation in the 81st minute of the match through substitute Alexis Mac Allister’s penalty, though City had the final say when Foden played in Riyad Mahrez for a late fourth.
Lewis Dunk produced an acrobatic goal-line clearance to deny Gabriel Jesus early on, but Gundogan tapped in two minutes later after Robert Sanchez failed to make a routine catch and Bernardo Silva hooked the ball into his City team-mate’s path.
Sanchez initially did well to keep the scoring down with a couple of good saves, only for Foden – under pressure from Brighton defender Dan Burn – to double his side’s tally by converting Jack Grealish’s unselfish pass at the end of a swift counter.
Foden was credited with the goal after some initial uncertainty over whether he or Burn got the final touch, and he had a second soon after, the England international getting in the way of a Jesus shot to help deflect it past a wrong-footed Sanchez.
Brighton recovered from two goals down to beat City 3-2 at this ground in May and they grew into the game in the second half, with Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard finally calling Ederson into action.
Manchester City could not hold on for a seventh clean sheet in nine league games this term as Ederson caught Enock Mwepu and fellow Albion substitute Mac Allister made no mistake from the penalty spot, but there was still time for Mahrez to lash in his seventh of the season when played in by Foden.
Phil Foden was untouchable against Brighton for Manchester City and scored a brace. | PHOTO: The Independent |
Man City may not have backed up the seven goals Chelsea managed against Norwich in Saturday’s early kick-off, but Brighton is far stronger opposition than the winless Norwich and this was a performance equally as impressive.
Brighton had lost just one of their opening eight games and entered this match only two points behind Guardiola’s side, yet they were completely blown away by the reigning champions, especially in the remarkably one-sided first half. The nine shots on the target managed by City in the first half are the most by a team in a Premier League game before the interval this term.
City’s lack of a natural striker has been a topic of discussion since the moment the transfer window closed, yet once again that was not a problem as they made it 37 goals in 14 matches this season.
Both sides are in EFL Cup last-16 action next Wednesday, with City traveling to London to take on West Ham United whilst Brighton travels to Leicester City.
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