De Bruyne shows Liverpool why Man City will be hard to budge in title fight

De Bruyne was on song as Man City provided the perfect response to Liverpool’s drubbing of Man Utd by breaking down a dogged Brighton side to go back to the top of the table

Pep Guardiola is clearly not one for sentiment.

Kevin De Bruyne chalked up his 300th game for Manchester City last night, but the milestone was not enough for Guardiola to hand him the captain’s armband. That went to vice-captain Ilkay Gundogan, who takes the armband when club captain Fernandinho – who is leaving at the end of the season – is not playing.

De Bruyne is third in command in the captain pecking order, yet the Belgium midfield playmaker does not need an armband or title to underline his enduring value to City. He remains City’s most influential player, the man his team-mates look to for the spark to get them going, as was the case against Brighton, with Gary Potter’s side proving tough to break down.

With so many City players out of sorts, including Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez, De Bruyne took it upon himself to generate the openings that would yield the breakthrough the home side needed. One such moment came in the 25th minute, when De Bruyne burst through the middle from the halfway line, exchanging passes with Phil Foden before dragging a low shot just wide.

Against that backdrop, it was no surprise De Bruyne was the architect of City’s opening goal, one greeted with a collective puffing out of the cheeks among the increasingly anxious home fans. By sheer force of will, as much as anything else, De Bruyne surged forward, staying on his feet when he could easily have gone down, to present Mahrez with the pass from which he scored.

Mahrez may have plundered the goal that eased any jitters before Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva both added to the scoreline to take City back above title rivals Liverpool, but De Bruyne’s was the name sung by the home fans. It was not just De Bruyne’s offensive work that impressed, but his defensive application, closing down opponents and winning back possession, leading from the front and driving City towards a fourth title in five years.