Mark O'Mahony makes home debut but Brighton demolished by Manchester City

Brighton 0 Manchester City 4

Manchester City went above Liverpool into second place in the Premier League with victory on a ground where life has been made uncomfortable for them on occasions in the recent past.

They had won, drawn and lost at the Amex Stadium on their previous three visits but on Thursday night, they made no mistake whatsoever.

Ruthless finishing game them a 3-0 lead after only 34 minutes, with Phil Foden scoring twice to add to Kevin de Bruyne’s opener. Julian Alvarez got the fourth after 62 minutes and there was seldom any doubt about them taking full advantage of the Reds’ defeat by Everton in Wednesday evening’s Merseyside derby.

The City machine now trails Arsenal, the leaders, by a single point and have a game in hand on the Gunners.

While Liverpool have faltered, City continue to look as remorseless as they have done in the late stages of the last three seasons, gaining strength as the finish line comes in sight. Foden in particular kept finding space that the defence seemed unable to deny him.

His major moments of frustration came when teammates failed to spot a darting run that attacked open space or an opening created as he slid between markers.

Trips to Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur, and home matches against Wolves and West Ham, are all that now stand in the way of an unprecedented fourth successive title for Pep Guardiola’s side.

Brighton, who have seen a season that promised so much blighted by an injury list that has now reached double figures, would have been encouraged by the absence of Erling Haaland and a few recent results that would have been hard to predict. But that did not last beyond a bright opening spell and before too long Brighton were staring down the