Pep Guardiola watched Manchester City close the gap on leaders Arsenal - but then warned “no-one is safe” in the title race.
City hero Phil Foden scored twice in a resounding win which pushes the reigning champions to within just five victories of a record fourth consecutive Premier League crown.
But after watching Liverpool lose at Everton, Guardiola insisted that City cannot take anything for granted or afford a single slip because Arsenal have a better goal difference.
City boss Guardiola said: “Many things can happen. What happened with Liverpool against Crystal Palace and Everton can happen to us. It can happen to Arsenal. No-one is safe. What is important is that still we are there. There is a lot of games to play. Maybe it is because they have been our challengers for years but my respect is even higher for Liverpool now.
"Arsenal score a lot of goals and don't concede. It is difficult to cut the goal difference. The margin is so big. The main thing is to win the game. We have five games left and they are tough ones. One game at a time. Now recover and then Nottingham Forest.
“We have done it before to win the title but that does not make it easier. I would love to say it does but it really doesn’t. We have to do the things to make it happen.
“We know Brighton never give up and in the first half we found the right rhythm and we scored in the right moments. In the right moments, we punished them. Brighton away is always very tough. Forest is the same.”
Foden added: "We just want to win game-by-game and push for the title. We don't get ahead of ourselves. Now the next game is coming quickly. Try to recover and we go again.”
Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi admitted all four goals came from mistakes but refused to blame teenager Valentin Barco who made an error on his debut to gift City a goal.
De Zerbi, whose side have been hit by injuries, said: “We have to keep playing and stick to our principles. Apart from his mistakes, he was our best player. But we have to be realistic and at the moment we cannot compete with the best teams in the Premier League.”
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