Man City break down stubborn Brighton to maintain title charge

Manchester City returned to the top of the Premier League table, restoring the single point lead over Liverpool and, better still for Pep Guardiola’s side, they might have successfully navigated one of their more difficult remaining assignments. Brighton and Hove Albion arrived with a formidable away record, both according to form and across the season as a whole, and held out for the best part of an hour before the bounces went the champions’ way.

Until Riyad Mahrez’s second-half opener, it had threatened to be a nervous night at the Etihad. They all are to an extent at this stage of the season but rarely have the defending champions lacked fluency in the manner they did during the first half. A point - or even a third successive away victory - did not look impossible for Graham Potter’s side at that stage City, though, were always the protagonists and, though they perhaps got a little lucky, they made that luck.

Mahrez’s breakthrough only came by way of a deflection - three, in fact - and another guided Phil Foden’s strike from range in for the second. Bernardo Silva’s late strike was cleaner than those it followed but by then, Brighton’s previously stiff resistance had already been broken and the Etihad had long been at ease. By the final whistle, the 3-0 scoreline had made things look comfortable, and the only sour note was possible injury to Nathan Aké.

City’s home matches against the Premier League’s middle order have earned a reputation for being bloodless walkovers, won in spurts of sparkling attacking play between long spells of safe possession. It often feels as though it is just a matter of time before they go ahead. On nights like these, though, when a win is needed to keep pace, the wait for that