Raheem Sterling is enjoying his best season in front of goal after his hat-trick inspired Manchester City to a 5-0 victory at Brighton
The England forward got Pep Guardiola's side up and running in the 21st minute, curling an effort beyond the dive of Mat Ryan before Gabriel Jesus added City's second just before half-time (44)
Sterling, who has now netted six goals in his last six Premier League games, then scored two headers - the second in bizarre fashion - either side of Bernardo Silva's tap-in to take his personal goal tally to 27 for the season, his best campaign for goals in his career
City, who were following up their 5-0 home win over Newcastle in midweek, have now secured second place in the Premier League to qualify for next season's Champions League ahead of their 
Meanwhile, a disappointing night for Brighton, who can still mathematically be relegated, leaves them eight points above the relegation places with three games left to play this season
Manchester City got into top gear pretty quickly and they were ahead in the 21st minute through Sterling
The England international picked out the bottom-right corner with a curled effort from the edge of the box after the ball was nodded into his path by Jesus following Riyad Mahrez's clipped pass forward
Jesus then saw an effort hit the crossbar after taking a deflection off Lewis Dunk, but it did not take long for the Brazilian to get on the scoresheet when the visitors doubled their advantage to 2-0 two minutes before the break
Kevin De Bruyne's outswinging corner was flicked on by Rodri at the near post, which created a simple tap-in for Jesus at the back post for his 20th goal of the season
City picked up in the second half where they left off in the first and De Bruyne was inches away from making it three when his powerful free-kick rattled the post
It was three moments later, though, as Sterling claimed his second of the night, heading in an inch-perfect cross from Mahrez from close range
Brighton had no answer to City's free-flowing football and it was 4-0 minutes later when Bernardo Silva tucked away a simple finish on the rebound after Ryan failed to hold on to the Portugal international's initial effort
Sterling rounded off City's evening, completing his hat-trick with 10 minutes to go
 He latched on to a long ball forward before an attempted defensive header from Adam Webster looped up and struck him on the head before rolling into the net, despite the efforts of Dan Burn on the goaline
' : "He's been great in everything he's done and he's topped it off with those three goals
 What a season he's enjoying
"Sterling believes his goals will only mean something if they help Manchester City to more silverware
While hopes of lifting the league title were ended long ago, City still hope to add Champions League and FA Cup trophies to the Carabao Cup they won in February
 And Sterling - whose goals on Saturday saw him pass the 30-mark in all competitions for club and country - hopes to play his part
"The most important thing to me is the value of these goals, that they add to the team," he told  "At the end of day we're trying to win the FA Cup final and win the Champions League as well, otherwise these goals don't really mean anything
"Brighton boss : "We were well beaten by the better team
 The first half we were in it a little bit, at a stretch still
 We had a couple of opportunities but not that much
"Manchester City were very good, they've got some players that can hurt you pretty much everywhere
 We're a little bit disappointed with how the second half went, we petered out but, at the same time, within four days we've had Liverpool and Manchester City
 It's a big ask but we have to dust ourselves down and focus on the next few matches
"Man City boss : "I was pleased with everything tonight - the result and the levels we reached
 We are now at a good level and are ready to play the last games of the Premier League and in the Champions League
 We've forgotten the Southampton result (1-0 defeat last Sunday) as we played incredibly well there
 Football sometimes is strange
 We just didn't score there
 We're a team who create a lot of chances and today we converted them
"We've qualified for the Champions League which was the minimum requirement for this club
 And these players have done it for the last six or seven years
 We won it on the pitch and hopefully on Monday UEFA will allow these players to play next season
 They deserve to be in the Champions League
"Manchester City are back in action on Wednesday when they host relegation-threatened Bournemouth at 6pm, live on , before Brighton travel to Southampton on Thursday at 8
15pm
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