Raheem Sterling 9, Kevin De Bruyne 8; Mat Ryan 4, Aaron Mooy 4: Brighton v Manchester City player ratings

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - Mat Ryan – 4, Overworked, and messed up for both Bernardo Silva’s goal and Sterling’s third. EPA

Martin Montoya – 4, Rather out of his depth. But he was hardly making history in that regard against this City side. EPA

Lewis Dunk – 7, Got himself in the way of a Gabriel Jesus shot to save Brighton from dropping two down early on, and repeated the effort a number of times from there on. AP

Adam Webster – 5, Raged manfully against the inevitable, but it must have felt like an ambush. AP

Bernardo – 6, Lost Jesus at a corner for the second goal, and was chasing shadows for most of the rest of it, too. PA

Yves Bissouma – 6, Did all he could to keep track of the rapidly moving shapes of the City midfield, and made one fine tackle. EPA

Pascal Gross – 6, Actually used the few touches of the ball he had well, with a couple of incisive through balls. AP

Aaron Mooy – 4, Will have wanted to show his former employers what they missed out on. Which is not much, on this evidence. EPA

Davy Propper – 4, Could not get near to the rampant City midfield. His substitution on the hour felt like mercy. PA

Leandro Trossard – 7, Fairly bright, which was impressive given the few morsels he was given to work with. EPA

Aaron Connolly – 5, Socially distant - and then some. Ploughed the loneliest furrow imaginable up front. EPA

Subs: Tariq Lamptey – 6, Not many of the home players shown more fight than he did in his 31-minute cameo. AP

Dale Stephens – 5, On for Propper, and fared little better than the Dutchman had managed. Reuters

Neal Maupay – 4, Just as isolated as Connolly, whom he replaced, but made even less of the touches he had. AP

Alireza Jahanbaksh – 5, It felt like a triumph for Brighton that he briefly kept the ball and did a cross. Not to any great result, of course. EPA

Dan Burn – 4, Didn’t look overly excited to come on at 4-0 down, and gave the ball away with his first touch. AP

Ederson – 7, Pep Guardiola should really give Ederson 20 minutes in centre midfield in games like this. Stunning range of passing. EPA

Kyle Walker – 7, His Road Runner-esque break won the corner that led to the second goal. Other than that, he did what he fancied. AP

Eric Garcia – 7, Botched a chance for his first Premier League goal at an early corner, but the youngster enjoyed his trip to the South Coast. AP

Aymeric Laporte – 6, Found Row Z to repel a Brighton attack in the second half. Other than that, he barely broke sweat. AP

Benjamin Mendy – 6, Sometimes profligate when well placed during his many raids down City’s left flank. Getty

Rodri – 8, Gave the ball away. Once. Promptly won it back, and was a picture of composure thereafter. High class. Reuters

Kevin De Bruyne – 8, Imperious. When is he ever not? Some of the Belgian’s passes were bordering on mickey taking. Reuters

Bernardo Silva – 7, Ended a 19-game goal drought as City played Attack v Defence in the second half. AP

Raheem Sterling – 9, Crisp finish brought him his 25th goal of the season with the opener, then two rare headed goals to follow completed his hat-trick. PA

Gabriel Jesus – 7, Profited from Rodri’s flick on to net from close range for City’s second, and hit the cross bar, too. Getty

Riyad Mahrez – 7, Seemed to be having a competition with De Bruyne as to who could pick the most exquisite pass. Wasteful in front of goal, though. Getty

Subs: John Stones – 6, The appearance fee he got for his late appearance here might be the easiest money anyone has ever earned. Getty

Oleksandr Zinchenko – 6, Not exactly tested when he came on for Mendy, but looked up for making a contribution. Getty

David Silva – 7, One sublime pass created a gilt-edged chance for Mahrez, but Silva had to go without an assist as the Algerian botched the chance. AFP

Fernandinho – 6, Came on for the brilliant Rodri late on, and his only notable contribution was earning a foul. AP

Phil Foden – 7, Part of a three-man substitution when he came on for Jesus, and he fitted in seamlessly. AP