Well, we told you Manchester City are masters of the run-in, didn’t we?
A first headed Premier League goal for Kevin De Bruyne and two more for Phil Foden gave City a 3-0 lead by half time at Brighton & Hove Albion and they never looked back. Julian Alvarez added a fourth in the 62nd minute after Kyle Walker found himself in plenty of the space on the right and Brighton saw a penalty appeal waved away.
After Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat at Everton on Wednesday, City moved within a point of leaders Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table — and still have a game in hand, albeit an inferior goal difference.
Sam Lee dissects the key talking points…
Phil Foden, player of the year?
If footballers are voting for their player of the year around now then Foden might just find himself in with a very big shout.
Watched by England manager Gareth Southgate on Thursday night, Foden has been in scintillating form over the past two months in particular. His two goals here (one heavily deflected, granted) should help move the needle in his favour, especially with other contenders at Liverpool, like Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, not exactly enjoying hot streaks of their own.
Foden scores with a free kick (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
The Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year award is something that Foden has his sights on, by the way, and not just this year. Two seasons ago, after enjoying a breakout season on the wing for City in 2020-21, in which he caught the eye with some dazzling dribbles and goals, he won the young player award.
The season after, when he would have been 21, he wanted the senior prize, but was probably hampered by being asked to play as Guardiola’s false nine for much of the season. He did that brilliantly but it is not a role which lends itself to the kind of praise a winger or ‘traditional’ striker might get. So he had to make do with just the young players’ award again!
This time he looks well placed, driving through the middle, pulling the strings and slamming in some spectacular — and important — goals for good measure.
Members of the Football Writers’ Association must submit their votes for the Footballer of the Year awards by April 30. Foden’s timing, as ever, might just be perfect.
GO DEEPER
Is Declan Rice already Premier League player of the year? Our writers join the debate
KDB v RVP?
(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
With some television pundits comparing De Bruyne’s cushioned diving header to Robin van Persie’s eternal effort at the 2014 World Cup (which I missed because — first world problem alert — I was in a Roy Hodgson press conference in Manaus), maybe there is an effort a little closer to home for City fans.
On this day in 2014 Robin van Persie scored what is possibly the best diving header of all time™️ pic.twitter.com/ypBkQAmp0E
— FourFourTwo (@FourFourTwo) June 13, 2019
Thursday marks 26 years since Jamie Pollock scored perhaps the best own goal of all time, flicking the ball over the defe….striker’s head, Paul Gascoigne at Euro ’96 style, before planting his header right into his own net. Delightful stuff.
Those days seem like ancient history now, partly because they are and we are all getting very old, but also because City are always gunning for trophies these days and De Bruyne’s effort was exactly what they needed after Brighton showed early fight with some trademark playing-out-from-the-back.
Walker does not get many assists (he got two here!) and De Bruyne does not score many headers (this was his first in the Premier League) but this is what happens when City smell a title: they tend to get the job done, no matter how and no matter what it looks like.
Is goal difference a concern?
With City 3-0 up at half-time — like when they went 3-0 up against Luton Town just under a fortnight ago — there were calls from fans to pump up the goal difference in case it is needed at the end of the season. In the end City added a total of eight to their tally in those two games (after winning 5-1 against Luton), but Arsenal are still eight ahead of them anyway.
Rodri celebrates Alvarez scoring City’s fourth (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
The reality is that goal difference is probably out of the equation at this point, and that City’s best hope is — simply — to win their remaining five games. In any case, City are one point behind Arsenal with a game in hand, and by the time you figure out the kind of slip-ups required for both teams to finish level on points (or for Liverpool to come back into it), then suddenly goal difference starts to look less important.
It may still be a factor, of course, but with the ball in City’s court and their players in the familiar position of feeling like they have to win every game, their best bet is to try to get the job done — no matter how polished the scoreline looks.
What did Guardiola say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for City?
Sunday, April 28: Nottingham Forest (A), Premier League, 4.30pm BST, 11.30am ET
City’s chance to respond to whatever Liverpool do on Saturday away against West Ham and Arsenal’s result earlier on Sunday across north London at their old chums Tottenham.
This one is title challengers against relegation candidates so you may have an inkling of how it’s likely to go, but City’s two most recent visits to the City Ground both ended in draws — albeit, those games took place 21 years apart.
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(Top photo: David Horton – CameraSport via Getty Images)
