Manchester City reclaimed top spot in the Premier League table, regaining a one-point lead over Liverpool, and Pep Guardiola’s team may have successfully weathered one of their more difficult remaining fixtures.
Brighton and Hove Albion arrived with a strong away record, both in terms of form and throughout the course of the season, and held out for nearly an hour before the bounces fell in the champions’ favour.
It had threatened to be a nerve-wracking night at the Etihad until Riyad Mahrez’s second-half opening. They’re all that at this point in the season, but the reigning champions have rarely lacked fluency like they did in the first half.
At the time, a point – or even a third consecutive away win – did not appear implausible for Graham Potter’s side. City, on the other hand, were always the protagonists and, while they may have gotten a touch lucky, they made the most of it.
Only a deflection — three, in fact – allowed Mahrez to burst through, and another guided Phil Foden’s effort from range in for the second goal.
Bernardo Silva’s late strike was cleaner than the ones that came before it, but Brighton’s hitherto strong resistance had already been broken, and the Etihad had been at ease for some time.
The 3-0 scoreline had made things look easy by the final whistle, with the only blemish being Nathan Aké’s possible injury.
City’s home matches against the Premier League’s middle order have a reputation for being bloodless romps, won in bursts of dazzling attacking play sandwiched by long periods of comfortable possession.
It frequently feels like it’s only a matter of time until they move forward. The wait for that breakthrough feels a little longer on evenings like this, when a win is required to keep up with the competition.
The crowd’s patience wears thin, and the air inside the Etihad becomes thinner.
Even before Brighton started to irritate, there was reason to anticipate that this would not be an easy evening’s work. Potter’s team understands how to take a win to the so-called big six.
Brighton came into this portion of Manchester having won successive away games against Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as holding Liverpool at Anfield. Only Manchester City and Chelsea can make the same claim.
Guardiola may at least call on Kevin De Bruyne, who was one of six changes from Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final after needing stitches in his foot.
Brighton, on the other hand, were missing two of their most important players. Yves Bissouma was serving the first of a two-match suspension, while Leandro Trossard, the match-winner at the new White Hart Lane, was also absent.
To come away with at least a point, Potter’s strategy would have to be executed flawlessly.
And it was, with a few hairy moments thrown in for good measure, for the first half. The most nerve-wracking moment came when Robert Sanchez handed the ball to Mahrez after keeping the champs quiet for the first quarter-hour.
When his shanked clearance dropped directly into the Algerian’s feet, the Brighton goalkeeper was standing roughly 10 yards to the right of his open goalmouth. The ball was trapped by Mahrez’s first touch, and his second should have been a shot, but a pause allowed Moises Caicedo to glide in and steal control.
It was City’s first clean sight of goal of the half, and the Etihad crowd sensed that chances would be few and far between.
There was wincing throughout the Etihad as City failed to deal with crosses into the box on one of the few occasions Brighton managed to come forward and enjoy a lengthy run of possession deep in opposition territory.
More:
‘It Was All Me,’ Shaq Says of His Broken Marriage to Shaunie O’Neal
What Are the Penalty and Interest Rates for Late Filing of Taxes?
Those murmurs were much louder when a second counter-attack orchestrated by De Bruyne came to naught.
