Manchester City 3-0 Brighton and Hove Albion: Clinical champions return to the summit

Liverpool
had
moved
to
the
summit
with
a
4-0
thrashing
of
Manchester
United
on
Tuesday,
but
Pep
Guardiola’s
side
responded
24
hours
later
to
keep
their
fate
in
their
own
hands
in
the
title
race.

Deflected
strikes
from
Mahrez
and
Foden
put
the
champions
in
command
at
the
Etihad
Stadium
and
Silva
added
a
third
as
they
moved
a
point
ahead
of
the
Reds
with
six
games
to
play
after
losing
to
Jurgen
Klopp’s
men
in
an
FA
Cup
semi-final
last
Saturday.

City
had
been
without
a
win
in
three
matches,
but
normal
service
was
resumed
in
their
quest
for
a
Premier
League
and
Champions
League
double.

Moises
Caicedo
spared
Robert
Sanchez’s
blushes
when
he
produced
a
brilliant
challenge
on
Mahrez
after
the
Seagulls
goalkeeper
gifted
the
City
winger
a
chance
to
open
the
scoring
early
on
with
a
terrible
pass.

The
hosts
were
not
at
their
devastating
best
in
the
first
half,
but
Brighton
had
another
let-off
when
they
made
a
mess
of
trying
to
play
out
from
the
back
again
and
this
time
Lewis
Dunk
came
to
the
rescue
by
blocking
Ilkay
Gundogan’s
strike.

The
fit-again
Ruben
Dias
replaced
Nathan
Ake
at
the
break
to
make
his
first
appearance
since
March
1
and
the
City
defender
was
fortunate
to
get
away
with
late
challenge
on
Alexis
Mac
Allister
soon
after
his
introduction.

Kevin
De
Bruyne
was
the
architect
for
the
opening
goal
eight
minutes
into
the
second
half,
bursting
forward
from
inside
his
own
half
before
picking
out
Mahrez,
who
benefited
from
a
couple
of
fortunate
deflections
before
his
finish
struck
Dunk
and
beat
Sanchez.

Foden
doubled
City’s
lead
12
minutes
later,
this
time
Enock
Mwepu
sticking
out
a
leg
in
an
attempt
to
keep
out
the
midfielder’s
drive
from
outside
the
box
but
seeing
the
ball
flash
past
a
helpless
Sanchez.

There
was
concern
for
City
when
John
Stones
was
withdrawn
late
on
after
sustaining
an
injury,
but
Silva
put
the
icing
on
the
cake
with
a
clinical
left-foot
finish
in
the
82nd
minute
as
Brighton
shot
themselves
in
the
foot
again
trying
to
play
out
from
the
back.