Foden double gets shaky Man City back on track

Midfielder Phil Foden delivered in dramatic fashion, scoring in the first and 91st minutes, to seal Manchester City’s 3-2 victory over Leeds United on Saturday in a breathless finish that kept Pep Guardiola’s side in the Premier League title race.

The game appeared to be heading for a draw after second-half goals by Leeds’ Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha, but Foden made some space for himself in the box before firing home.

The victory left City second on 25 points, four behind Arsenal, who visit third-placed Chelsea with 23 points on Sunday, according to Super Sport.

Leeds remain in the relegation zone in 18th with 11 points.

Guardiola’s men were keen to put things right after two straight losses, including a 2-0 home defeat by Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday, and wasted little time.

Before the game was a minute old, Matheus Nunes worked the ball down the wing and crossed to Foden, whose first-time shot glanced off the underside of the bar and went in past goalkeeper Lucas Perri.

City continued to dominate and Josko Gvardiol doubled their lead in the 25th when he poked home a point-blank effort from a corner when Nico O’Reilly’s header fell at the Croat’s feet.

There was a lengthy VAR check for offside but the goal stood.

City were lackadaisical after the break though and Leeds’ Ao Tanaka pounced on a casual attempted clearance to slide the ball to substitute Calvert-Lewin who pulled one back in the 50th minute.

The former Everton striker appeared to briefly lose possession in the box but Nunes touched it into his path.

Nmecha equalised in the 68th minute. Apenalty was awarded to the visitors for Gvardiol’s tackle on Calvert-Lewin and althoughGianluigi Donnarumma saved Nmecha’s initial effort, the forward rushed in to fire the rebound into the empty net.

Foden’s late goal came amid a flurry of chances for City at the death.

The victory ended a spell of two consecutive losses for City in all competitions and answered some questions about their attacking options.

Recent defeats by Newcastle United in the Premier League and Leverkusen in Europe had raised questions about Guardiola’s reliance on Erling Haaland, who is one goal away from becoming the quickest to reach 100 Premier League goals.

However, Guardiola’s other players stepped up on Saturday, with O’Reilly, Tijjani Reijnders and Omar Marmoush among those narrowly missing chances as City had 18 shots to Leeds’ nine.

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