Manchester City have been champions for more than a thousand days since they won the title back in May 2021 and on this evidence are in no mood to relinquish the honour.
Of all the things about Pep Guardiola and his team, it is the desire to drive on that is perhaps most impressive. The refusal to bask in all they have achieved. To process the disappointment of defeat on penalties to Real Madrid in the Champions League and summon more.
They saw Arsenal smash five past Chelsea on Tuesday. They 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 to seize control against Brighton despite the absence of Erling Haaland. Kevin de Bruyne scored his first Premier League header. Phil Foden added two more to his most prolific season. 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 leaders Arsenal engage in a local dispute with Tottenham Hotspur.
Man City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne celebrates after opening the scoring against Brighton
De Bruyne’s diving header looped over the goalkeeper Steele in the 17th minute
Phil Foden’s deflected free kick doubled Man City’s advantage in the 26th minute
Foden scored their third goal in the 34th minute after an error by Brighton’s Valentín Barco
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The unprecedented fourth successive title is very much on. Of course, debate about the 115 charges for financial misconduct rages, but it would be an epic feat of sporting endurance if they make it, and one surely appreciated by Russ Cook, the inspiring Worthing 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 for charity and was back on the Sussex coast last night to bear witness as City’s relentless machine overwhelmed his home-town club.
Depleted by injuries, Brighton are stumbling towards the finish line. This has been an arduous campaign, including their first experience of the complications of European competition. Yet they are challenging for the top half and any fixture at the Amex Stadium can an awkward one, even for those contesting the title.
Roberto de Zerbi selected a back five with Jakub Moder stepping out into midfield when they won possession as if trying 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 from an effort fizzed across the turf and they controlled the game for 15 minutes.
Then City found their rhythm with Foden at the heart of everything. For the opener, he probed left-to-right along the edge of the Brighton box before releasing Kyle Walker, who clipped a cut a cross towards De Bruyne who summoned his inner Keith Houchen as he arrived unmarked.
De Bruyne launched himself through the air, met the ball perfectly mid-flight and his header found the top corner as if he did this sort of thing every week.
If that 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.
Referee Jarred Gillett called it a foul. He gave City most of what they asked for all night, to the frustration of the home crowd. They booed him off at the end and it’s true almost every marginal decision went to the champions.
Still, the officials were not the reason for the result, which was never in doubt from the moment Foden made it 2-0 from the free-kick he won. He went for goal and his curling shot clipped Pascal Gross on the back, deflected and left Jason Steele marooned.
Brighton had barely overcome their sense of injustice when they gifted the visitors the third. Tapping intricate one-touch passes around in their own penalty area it was teenager Valentin Barco who was pressurised into an error.
Bernardo Silva pounced and moved the ball swiftly to Foden who swept his second past Steele without fuss. This was a clinical burst of three goals inside 17 minutes. From their positive start, Brighton found themselves out of it.
Julian Alvarez slotted the ball into the net for the fourth goal after a run by Kyle Walker
Man City goalkeeper Ederson dives at the feet of Brighton striker Joao Pedro
Pedro went down in the area following a tangle with Ederson and Josko Gvardiol
‘Hardest Geezer’ Russ Cook with fellow Brighton fans before the game on Thursday night
They might reflect on a chance for Dunk when they game was poised at 1-0. Dunk climbed to meet a corner unopposed. His header was too close to the goalkeeper, however, and City were in such destructive mood they soon stretched clear.
Alvarez, without a goal in the Premier League since January, made it 4-0. This time a goal of brutal, long-ball simplicity. Ederson smacked it 80 yards from his own penalty area to Walker in full flight. Steele dashed from his line to smother at Walker’s feet and the ball spilled out.
There were claims for handball. Steele thought the rebound had stuck Walker’s arm and diverted to Alvarez who found the net. There was no rescue from VAR. And no penalty from referee Gillett when Joao Pedro tumbled in the penalty area soon afterwards.
It was Brighton’s 100th Premier League defeat and it came against the team who inflicted their first, in 2017. They will not relish the symmetry but on go City, English football’s hardest geezers, five wins from their most glorious achievement.
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