Manchester City continued their Premier League title push in style as they breezed past Brighton & Hove Albion en route to a 4-0 win.
Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Julian Alvarez and a brace from Phil Foden capitalised on significant defensive errors from Brighton, whose expansive style looked good without majorly troubling City.
As Brighton slumped to a fifth straight game without a win in the Premier League but City ran out to their fourth consecutive victory, the match did not produce the upset many hoped.
Nonetheless, it taught us much about how both sides' ambitions and tactics will shape up for the last few weeks of the season.
1. You can't out-Pep Pep Roberto De Zerbi is known for playing an attractive style of possession-based football which has garnered great success for Brighton in the last two years.
The Seagulls have averaged almost 61% possession in the 2023/24 campaign.
This is despite an inconsistent run of results that has left them clinging onto outside hopes of regaining European football.
Despite the inconsistencies, De Zerbi ardently sticks to his philosophy, with last night proving no different.
Some would argue De Zerbi's style of play derives from Pep Guardiola's groundbreaking philosophy, but it seemed brave, if not naive, of the Brighton boss to attempt to beat the great manager at his own game with comparatively fewer resources.
At numerous times, Brighton were caught trying to play out from the back, including for the third goal when full debutant Valentin Barco played a loose ball on the edge of the area, allowing Phil Foden to pounce and fire home, effectively killing the contest.
Speaking to Sky Sports, De Zerbi maintained that his team's style of play has benefited them across the season.
"If you make mistakes, you can concede a goal," said the Italian.
"You have to analyse the whole season and how many goals we scored and how many points we made playing the ball," he added.
Nonetheless, that is back-to-back resounding defeats at the Amex against two top sides, and the stubbornness as well as lack of adaptability, amongst other factors, have seemingly contributed to these results.
2. Fatigue not an issue - City look as ruthless as ever Guardiola's comments surrounding fixture scheduling after their 1-0 win over Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi-Final caused a barrage of controversy.
The City boss called the scheduling of their game on the Saturday after their midweek defeat to Real Madrid on penalties in the Champions League 'unacceptable'.
There were three changes made from their victory at Wembley, but despite the relentless scheduling, City looked back to their dominant, ruthless selves in Sussex.
City dominated from the off, and had the game dead and buried within 35 minutes.
As well as this, the defending Premier League champions seemed to rediscover that clinical edge that had been missing from the previous two games, scoring four with an XG of only 1.36.
This is undoubtedly an ominous sign for the rest of the league, but another test for City is right around the corner as they travel to the City Ground to play relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
3. Brighton's young guns have a part to play in the remainder of the season In recent history, Albion have been renowned for their scouting prowess, bringing young talent in from across the world and implicating them into their first team setup.
However, the work being done at the Amex Elite Football Performance Centre is also producing some real talent, with the latest to break through including Evan Ferguson (brought in from Bohemians in Ireland as a 16-year-old) and Jack Hinshelwood, son of former Albion player Adam Hinshelwood.
With eight injuries throughout the first team, two more youngsters were brought into the squad and given significant minutes against elite opposition.
21-year-old Odeluga Offiah, a 6ft 2in centre-half by nature, was given the second half to show what he could do at the Amex at right-back in place of Joel Veltman.
In addition to this, another 19-year-old Irish talent graced the blue and white of Brighton & Hove Albion as Mark O'Mahony was given 15 minutes.
Naturally a striker, O'Mahony made it back-to-back Premier League appearances and achieved 100% pass completion in doing so.
With the injuries to a number of the traditional first-team players, members of the club's academy may well have to step up again if Albion are going to make stake a late claim for a European spot.
4. City in juggernaut mode will be very difficult to stop By now, it is expected that Manchester City will go on a ridiculous run of results in the second half of the season, usually resulting in them lifting the Premier League trophy (amongst others).
Despite still being on for two trophies, there has been a slight element of disappointment about Manchester City's season so far in crashing out of the Carabao Cup and Champions League, such is the level of their success.
As such, these remaining two competitions will have more importance than ever, and Guardiola will be desperate to claim them both and keep his grip over English football.
Two defeats in three for Liverpool have seen the Reds' title hopes take a hit, leaving Arsenal as City's main threat in the Premier League.
With five games to go, and being just a point behind the Gunners with a game in hand, can anyone stop Guardiola from claiming his fourth straight title?
