Brighton 0-4 Manchester City: Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne star as Man City hammer Brighton and move into second

Manchester City continued their pursuit of defending the Premier League title on Thursday with a resounding 4-0 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion at the American Express Community Stadium. Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden were the stars of the night as their excellent performances propelled Manchester City to second place, just one point shy of league leaders Arsenal and still possessing a game in hand.
The scoring was opened by De Bruyne with a spectacular long-range header following stellar combination play between Foden and Kyle Walker. Foden then secured a brace in the rest of the first half, with the first goal originating from a deflected free-kick and the second resulting from a defensive error by Brighton's youngster Valentin Barco. Julian Álvarez scored the fourth goal for City in the second half after a contestable Walker challenge on Brighton's goalkeeper, Jason Steele.

Manchester City's robust performance comes at a crucial point as they navigate the difficult tasks in their run-in. Continuing an unbeaten streak of 18 games in the Premier League, City is tallying up goals rapidly, trimming the goal difference advantage that leaders Arsenal previously held.
Phil Foden was instrumental in commanding City's first-half dominance, creating a moment of magic to unlock Brighton's defence for the first time. Apart from setting up De Bruyne's opening goal, Foden showed unerring accuracy to find the bottom corner after a defensive mishap by Brighton.

As City edged closer to Arsenal, their clinical performance and bold attacking play signified a key warning to the rest: City is peaking at the precise moment with the title firmly within their hands and five matches remaining to play.