October 23, (THEWILL) – A quickfire Phil Foden brace helped English Premier League champions Manchester City cruise to a 4-1 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion, while keeping pressure on Chelsea.
As THEWILL reported, Chelsea had beaten Norwich 7-0 in Saturday’s early kickoff game..However, City responded with a convincing win of their own to close the gap on the leaders to two points.
Lewis Dunk made an acrobatic goal-line clearance to deny Gabriel Jesus early on, but Ilkay Gundogan tapped in two minutes later after Robert Sanchez failed to make a routine catch and Bernardo Silva hooked the ball into his City teammate’s path.
Brighton keeper Sanchez did well to keep the score 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 quick counter.
After some confusion over whether it was Foden or Burn who got the final touch, Foden added a second soon after, getting in the way of a Jesus shot to help deflect it past Sanchez, who was wrong-footed.
Brighton came back from two goals down to beat City 3-2 at this stadium in May, and they grew into the game in the second half, with Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard finally forcing Ederson to make a save.
City were unable to keep their seventh clean sheet in nine league games this season after Ederson brought down Enock Mwepu and fellow Albion substitute Mac Allister converted from the spot, but there was still time for Mahrez to lash in his seventh of the season when played in by Foden.
Brighton had only lost one of their first eight games and were only two points behind City going into this match, but they were completely outclassed by the reigning champions, particularly in an incredibly one-sided first half.
City’s nine shots on goal in the first half were the most by a team in a Premier League game before the break this season.
Both teams play in the EFL Cup Last 16 on Wednesday, with City visiting West Ham and Brighton visiting Leicester City.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
