Older brotherKevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden shined together to help Man City win 4-0 against host Brighton, maintaining their right to self-determine the Premier League championship.
Nearly 10 years ago, midfielder Steven Gerrard’s disastrous slip caused Liverpool to lose the championship to Man City. This season, Arsenal and Liverpool also lost the upper hand to Pep Guardiola’s team. And once in charge of self-determination, Guardiola’s team never lost the opportunity to win the Premier League.
Phil Foden celebrates a goal in Man City’s 4-0 win over Brighton at AMEX Stadium, match round 29 of the Premier League on the evening of April 25, 2024. Image: Reuters
Arsenal and somewhat Liverpool fans expected Brighton to be able to do something, when Roberto de Zerbi’s team had just lost two matches at home this season, before hosting Man City. Besides the trip to Tottenham, this is the second biggest challenge for Guardiola and his team in the final rounds.
However, Man City’s stars shined at the right time, showing the difference in level between the two teams. De Bruyne opened the scoring with a flying header into the net from 13 meters from right-back Kyle Walker’s cross. This goal is quite similar to Robin van Persie’s header against Spain at the 2014 World Cup.
De Bruyne scored his first header in the Premier League. Image: Reuters
Nine minutes later, Foden slipped outside Brighton’s penalty area, but the referee gave Man City a free kick against the wall. VAR cannot intervene in such situations, and ironically for the host when Foden himself kicked a free kick that hit the fence and changed direction to increase the score to 2-0. The England midfielder scored twice eight minutes later, curling his left foot into the far corner after Bernardo Silva cut off Valentin Barco’s errant pass in the home penalty area.
Before the match, Guardiola repeatedly complained about Man City’s busy schedule, and said that he wanted to keep the players “in the refrigerator” to preserve their strength. And despite continuing to be without striker Erling Haaland due to injury, the away team did not show any signs of being out of breath. Meanwhile, Brighton is facing many difficulties when eight players are missing, including midfielder Kaoru Mitoma.
Man City took advantage of their opponent’s decline to lead 3-0 in the first half. In the second half, goalkeeper Ederson flicked long for Walker to escape to the right side of the penalty area, before passing a cross to Julian Alvarez to tap into the empty net, sealing the 4-0 victory.
And Man City is also aiming for a fourth consecutive championship. The next challenge for Guardiola’s army is host Nottingham Forest in round 35 on April 28.
Hoang An
