Manchester City have been champions for more than a thousand days. They won the title back in May 2021 and on this evidence are not in the mood to relinquish it.
2023/2024 Premier League
0-4
Match Report
Of all the things about Pep Guardiola and his team, it is the appetite to keep going that is perhaps most impressive. The refusal to bask in what they have achieved. To process the disappointment of defeat on penalties by Real Madrid in the Champions League.
They saw Arsenal smash five past Chelsea on Tuesday. They saw Liverpool surrender three points in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday. They responded in the way champions do. Seemingly immune to anxiety.
There were three goals in the first half despite the continued absence of Erling Haaland. Kevin De Bruyne scored his first Premier League header, Phil Foden added two more to his prolific season and Julian Alvarez ended his personal drought in the competition.
City moved with menace to within a point of the summit and have a game in hand. They are at Nottingham Forest on Sunday as Arsenal engage in a local dispute with Tottenham Hotspur.
The unprecedented fourth successive title is very much on. Of course, debate about the 115 charges for financial misconduct will rage on, but it would be an epic feat of sporting endurance if they make it.
One surely appreciated by Russ Cook, the Brighton runner known as Hardest Geezer, who ran almost 10,000 miles to cover the length of Africa in 352 days. Cook raised more than a million pounds for charity and was back in Sussex to see the City machine overwhelm his home-town club.
Depleted by injuries, Brighton have been stumbling towards the finish. This has been an arduous campaign, including their first experience of the complications of European competition. Yet they are still challenging for the top half and a fixture at the Amex Stadium is still viewed as one that might be tricky, even for those contesting the title.
De Zerbi handed a first Premier League start to Valentin Barco, a teenage left back signed from under the noses of Manchester City in January from Boca Juniors for £7.8million.
Barco played on the left of a defensive five with Jakub Moder stepping out into midfield when they won possession as De Zerbi tried to out-Pep Guardiola with a fluid, shape-shifting formation, strikers split wide to create space for the midfield runners.
That all seemed very well as the home side made a confident start. Danny Welbeck forced Ederson into an early save and they controlled the game for the first quarter of an hour.
City soon found some rhythm. The first chance fell to Nathan Ake, who fired over as he slid in at the back post to reach a teasing free-kick delivered by Foden.
It was Foden pulling the strings for the opener, probing left-to-right along the edge of the Brighton box before releasing Kyle Walker, who clipped a cross back towards the unmarked De Bruyne. He launched himself at the ball, met it perfectly mid-flight and watched as his first headed goal in the Premier League found the top corner.
If the first was an aesthetic treat, then City’s second came laced with good fortune. Foden again was the catalyst, with a burst of pace and a tumble as he reached the penalty area. He rode one tackle and Lewis Dunk gave him a tap with a hand around the waist, but Foden kept going and seemed to slip rather than dive on the edge of the box.
Still, referee Jarred Gillett called it a foul. He gave City most of what they asked for in the first half, to the frustration of the home crowd. Foden went for goal and his shot clipped Pascal Gross on the back and deflected past Jason Steele.
Brighton had barely overcome their sense of injustice when they gifted the visitors the third. Tapping intricate one-touch passes around in their own area, it was rookie Barco who was pressurised into an error.
Bernardo Silva pounced and moved it swiftly to Foden, who swept his second past Steele with his left foot. From their positive start, Brighton found themselves three down inside 34 minutes.
They might reflect on a chance for Dunk when the game was poised at 1-0. Dunk climbed to meet a corner unopposed, but his header was too close to Ederson. Still, with City in such destructive mood, it probably would have made minimal difference.
Alvarez, without a goal in the Premier League since January, made it 4-0 with a goal of long-ball simplicity. Ederson smacked it 80 yards to Walker in full flight. Steele dashed from his line in an attempt to smother the chance at Walker’s feet but the ball spilled out.
There were claims for handball. Steele thought the rebound had stuck Walker’s arm and diverted to Alvarez who scored. There was no rescue from VAR. And no penalty from referee Gillett when Joao Pedro tumbled in the area soon afterwards.
It was Brighton’s 100th Premier League defeat and it came against the team who inflicted their first, in 2017. They probably will not relish the symmetry but on go City. An unstoppable force.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
16' CLOSE! Ake’s shot wide out
17' GOAL! Brighton 0-1 Man City (De Bruyne)
26' GOAL! Brighton 0-2 Man City (Foden)
34' GOAL! Brighton 0-3 Man City (Foden)
61' CLOSE! Alvarez’s shot saved by Goalkeeper!
62' GOAL! Brighton 0-4 Man City (Julián Álvarez)
66' Gvardiol makes timely block！
73' Joao Pedro goes down in the box but ref says no penalty!
86' CLOSE! Pedro misses a golden chance!
Line-ups
Brighton XI: Lallana, Steele, Welbeck, Gross, Veltman, Dunk, Jakub Moder, Jan Paul van Hecke, João Pedro, Valentín Barco, Carlos Baleba
Subs: Webster, Igor, Fati, Julio Enciso, Bart Verbruggen, Odel Offiah, Simon Adingra, Facundo Buonanotte, Mark O'Mahony
Man City XI: Walker, De Bruyne, Kovacic, Ake, Ederson, Bernardo, Akanji, Rodri, Foden, Julián Álvarez, Josko Gvardiol
Subs: Stefan Ortega, Stones, Grealish, Ruben Dias, Sergio Gómez, Matheus Nunes, Jérémy Doku, Oscar Bobb, Rico Lewis