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Manchester City chalked up another big win in their hunt for an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title, as Phil Foden continued his career-best scoring season with two goals in a 4-0 thrashing of Brighton on Thursday.
Foden’s first-half double came between goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Julián Álvarez as City extended their unbeaten run in the league to 18 games and trimmed the gap to leaders Arsenal to one point.
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“I don’t know if it was statement, obviously every game is a lot of pressure but the only thing we can do is try to perform as well as we did today,” De Bruyne told Sky Sports.
City have five games remaining — one more than Arsenal — and, on current form, are showing no signs of slipping up in the final stretch that still contains trips to Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Tottenham as well as home matches against Wolverhampton and West Ham.
Win all five of those games and City are champions again. No team has ever won four successive top-flight titles in the history of English soccer.
Since a 0-0 draw with Arsenal at home on March 31, City have won four straight league games and scored 17 goals in the process.
Pep Guardiola’s team kept up that hot streak without the injured Erling Haaland — the league’s joint-top scorer with 20 goals — and that allowed Foden to potentially join the race for the Golden Boot.
It’s 16 goals for the campaign and 24 in 48 games in all club competitions this season for Foden, who delivered another clinical display in front of England coach Gareth Southgate at Amex Stadium — seven weeks out from the start of the European Championship.
De Bruyne’s diving header from Kyle Walker‘s right-wing cross gave City the led in the 17th and Foden made it 2-0 in the 26th when his shot from a free kick deflected in off the back of Brighton midfielder Pascal Gross.
“It doesn’t happen too much, does it? I think the only way I could reach it was jumping to the ball, and it goes in like a little lob, but it’s obviously not something I’m really good at,” De Bruyne said after netting his first headed goal in the Premier League.
Foden added a third in the 34th by curling home a low finish from just inside the area after Brighton lost possession attempting to play out from the back.
Alvarez, starting up front in place of Haaland, slotted in for 4-0 in the 62nd after Walker was given space to roam down the right wing and cut inside before sliding in to challenge goalkeeper Jason Steele and get the ball across to the Argentina striker.