Fodengoals THERE AIN’T NO DROPPIN’ PHIL At it again NOW AS HE RUNS THE SHOW
WHY Phil Foden does not start every game is often a puzzle Manchester City fans cannot fathom.
But when he is fit and firing, even tinkering Pep Guardiola cannot contemplate dropping the star, 22, who bagged his fourth goal in three games to trigger a hard-fought City win.
Following struggles with form, confidence and injury last year Foden is now in a rich moment.
And he was at his delicious best against sliding Newcastle, all silky skills and darting menace.
His early goal showcased his fabulous ability, even if he did get a deflection off Sven Botman.
And there was no disguising the admiration of the City dressing room for Foden as City kept up the pressure on Arsenal.
Bernardo Silva, scorer of the second goal midway through the second half, heaped praise on the star with Guardiola (right) also delighted Foden is back.
“Phil is so good, he is one of those players who can score goals and win games for you,” said Silva.
“So I’m happy for him. He went through a difficult period with his injury so I am very happy to have him back because he showed he can solve some of our problems.
“It won’t be easy but we’ll fight for all of the titles we are still in.
“We need to do our job because if we don’t then it won’t matter what Arsenal do or don’t do.”
After five away games City were back on home turf but the scoreline should fool no one, victory was only assured following Silva’s nerve-soothing goal.
Foden might be a physical mismatch against Dan Burn but the youngster’s pace and skill more than bridged any size gap as City looked to him for inspiration with Kevin De Bruyne labouring.
After taking a 15th-minute pass,
Foden darted for the box leaving Burn and Bruno Guimaraes floundering before Botman dived in to block the star’s shot.
Unluckily for Toon, Botman’s lunge sent the ball in at the near post before Nick Pope could react.
With City’s early dominance it threatened to be a long day for the Carabao Cup final losers.
But Newcastle’s emergence this term has been built on fight and resilience – and they dug in hard showing plenty of both.
Nathan Ake’s goal-saving block denied Sean Longstaff and Callum Wilson mis-kicked inside the box after being teed-up for a certain goal by Kieran Trippier.
In between, though, City could have gone further ahead but for once 33-goal Erling Haaland failed to find the target.
De Bruyne teased a cross to the far post but he headed wide.
The Magpies reached half-time still in this, with City making a habit lately of failing to kill-off opponents when ahead.
Howe’s triple attacking change of Alexander Isak, Allan SaintMaximin and Joe Willock saw an immediate boost in hopes .
But the ruthless edge missing in the Carabao Cup Final hurt the Geordies once again.
Joelinton spurned a chance to level the scores with a mis-cue in front of goal after a Willock cross – and it proved a costly miss.
Moments later Silva, on barely two minutes after replacing De Bruyne, finished off the Geordies with a shot which beat Pope.
Newcastle never gave up and in the closing seconds a Trippier free-kick brought a full-stretch save from Ederson who marked his performance with his 100th Premier League clean sheet.
Boss Eddie Howe said: “When you lose a huge game like a cup final there’s disappointment, but I don’t think you saw a team wallowing in any kind of self-pity.
“We were fully committed, very brave, aggressive and very much in that game but we didn’t take our chances and City did, of course.
“I’m not going to lie and say it’s not a concern, because it is, but I think if you’re still creating them that’s a positive.
“Over the long term I back the players to start scoring again. We need to because the confidence of the whole team is dependent on it.”