Foden then added two more before half-time to reduce what looked like a tricky fixture to the status of a formality. He scored his first with a deflected free-kick, wrongly awarded for a slip not a foul. Brighton’s frustration was exacerbated by a decisive deflection off Pascal Gross which wrong-footed keeper Luke Steele.
He scored his second with help from Brighton’s high-risk strategy of playing out from the back. Surely there is a time and place, and in your own area, with teenager Valentin Barco the culprit on his Premier League debut, is neither the time nor the place.
These were Foden’s 50th and 51st Premier League goals for City, his potency simply adding further power to manager Pep Guardiola’s vast weaponry. Sixteen of those strikes have come this season.
And just to add to the picture of City as the complete team, Julian Alvarez’s fourth goal was started by a 71-yard pinpoint pass from goalkeeper Ederson to Walker. It ended a run of eight games without a goal for the Argentine, who worked so hard and deserved his reward.