Phil Foden scored a first half brace to see Manchester City breeze past Brighton 4-0 at the Amex stadium to keep Pep Guardiola’s side in touch with league leaders Arsenal.

The defending champions traveled to Amex stadium on Thursday to face the Seagulls after seeing one of their title challengers, Liverpool, drop points on Wednesday.

Although Arsenal were 5-0 winners over Chelsea on Tuesday to take them 4 points clear at the top of the table, Manchester City’s outstanding game meant the lead was within reach for them.

Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring after 17 minutes with a flying header that was reminiscent of Robin Van Persie’s iconic goal against Spain at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Nine minutes later, Phil Foden scored his first of the night with a deflected free-kick before he capitalized on a poor attempt to play from the back to secure his brace and Manchester City’s third on the night in the 34th minute.

Although the dominance was well meted out by Manchester City, they did not add to the score line in the first half, and it took a further 15 minutes after the restart before Julian Alvarez scored the fourth and final goal of the night with a simple tap in. Manchester City’s De Bruyne was pleased with his team’s performance.

“It was a good game. I think we played really good in the first half, and every game is a lot of pressure. All we can do is prepare as we did today and win the game that is in front of us.” De Bruyne said.

With the win, Manchester City are now a single point behind Arsenal with 76 points from 30 games with a game in hand. They will face Nottingham Forest away at the weekend before hosting Wolves next week for their outstanding fixture.

The loss means Brighton have now lost back-to-back Premier League home games, same number as they have recorded in their previous 22 at Amex Stadium beforehand.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu