Manchester City 3 Brighton & Hove Albion 0
The champions elect scored three second-half goals to put pay to Albion’s valiant defensive efforts of the first half.
Albion worked tirelessly to frustrate City in the opening period, restricting them to just one shot on target from Bernardo Silva which Robert Sanchez saved well.
Moises Caicedo and Lewis Dunk were also on hand to foil City – and late on in the half Albion began to get on top but had no effort on goal to note.
Eight minutes after the break though, Riyad Mahrez opened the scoring for the home side with a side-foot finish after good approach play from Kevin De Bruyne.
Now more in the ascendancy City quickly looked to kill Albion off, with De Bruyne forcing a good save from Sanchez.
A corner from De Bruyne found Phil Foden whose crisp drive beat Sanchez via a nick off Enock Mwepu to double City’s lead.
Albion now had little to offer and Foden forced another good save from Sanchez but later the keeper fluffed his lines with a clearance.
De Bruyne was again involved and Bernardo Silva fired past Sanchez with eight minutes left to make it 3-0.
Mwepu may have had a shout for a penalty late on but imminently retiring referee Mike Dean was having none of it.
Albion stay 10th in the Premier League and take on Southampton at the Amex on Sunday (24 April) with a 2pm kick off.
