Kyle Walker goes off script as Man City star joins Lionel Messi club and Liverpool narrative ruined

Manchester City were excellent on Thursday night to beat Brighton 4-0 in the Premier League.

The damage was done in the first half as Phil Foden scored with a swooping header before Julian Alvarez saw a free-kick deflect in and ruthlessly punished some helpless Brighton defending in their own box. Pep Guardiola could afford to be all smiles as he watched his team pull apart their opponents and send a message to Arsenal and the rest of the Premier League, with Guardiola's ruthless call after Foden goal kills Klopp's dream for good netting a fourth late on.

City are next in Kevin De Bruyne, when they will hope to move one step closer to retaining the Premier League. Here are some of the talking points from Thursday's win.

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Guardiola has been very clear that City can't afford to get ahead of themselves. He allowed himself a little smile in his press conference on Wednesday when asked if he could see the end in sight, but the message has consistently been one game at a time; that was repeated minutes before kick-off when he said on Sky that getting ahead of themselves would be costly.

Fast-forward to the players on the pitch though and the Sky cameras picked up the City team huddle, where captain Kyle Walker told the players that they needed performances in each of the six games coming up. Guardiola may not be going public with the expectations for the run-in but the players are taking in the bigger picture.

There have been some inevitable quirks in the swings involved in the title race. A few weeks ago Liverpool slipped up against perennial thorn in their side Crystal