Foden scored a marvellous hat-trick to down Aston Villa on Wednesday night after Rodrigo‘s opener had been cancelled out by Jhon Duran.
That means he has now scored 21 times and made 10 assists in his most productive campaign yet.
City 4-1 Aston Villa | Match report
In the Premier League, only Mo Salah and Ollie Watkins have reached 20 goals and 10 assists while Harry Kane has done so for Bayern Munich and Jude Bellingham has for Real Madrid.
This was Foden‘s third Premier League hat-trick, with only four players taking home more match balls before their 24th birthday.
It was also the 40th City hat-trick scored in the Premier League, with the Blues just two behind Liverpool who lead this metric.
24 of our 40 hat-tricks have been netted since Pep Guardiola‘s arrival in 2016.
This performance saw Foden at his efficient best, scoring three times from just four shots with a total tally of 0.47 xG.
Playing behind main striker Julian Alvarez, he had fewer touches (79) than the whole back four and Rodrigo, but was the primary target when progressing the ball into midfield.
Even in such tight spaces, he still attempted eight dribbles - showing off both his incredible technical ability but also his mentality to go for the narrowest of gaps.
All round Rodrigo
Rodrigo‘s opener for City was expertly taken and a mark of just how far the Spaniard has developed his overall game.
Ghosting into the box and turning home an unstoppable shot first time, our holding midfielder looked every bit a centre forward in that moment.
It was his eighth goal in all competitions so far this season, surpassing his previous best tally of seven in 2021/22.
He has found the net seven times in the Premier League and once in the Champions League this term.
Our No.16 also provided a beautiful assist for Foden‘s second on the night, shimmying the ball from his right to his left to play in the England international.
That’s not to say he has shelved his responsibilities in terms of building attacks from deep.
His 102 passes was the joint-most in the game alongside Ruben Dias.
If it was ever necessary to demonstrate Rodrigo‘s importance to City, we have now gone 43 games without defeat with him in the side.
Unbeaten run
We’re now 24 matches unbeaten across all competitions since the defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park in early December.
That has comprised of 20 wins and four draws including a FIFA Club World Cup success and safe passage to the later rounds of the Champions League and FA Cup.
At home, it’s an even more impressive statistic. We haven’t lost in our last 40 home assignments, stretching all the way back to Brentford in November 2022.
That is only the second time we have reached 40+ matches on such a run, with the Club record set at 42 games between December 1919 and November 1921.
Premier League stats so far this season
Erling Haaland still leads the race for the Golden Boot, with 18 strikes. He is two ahead of Mo Salah, Dominic Solanke and Ollie Watkins.
Foden is eighth on that list with 14 of his own.
Julian Alvarez leads the assists rankings for City in the Premier League with eight lay offs for team-mates.
That is two off joint-leaders Pascal Gross, Ollie Watkins and Kieran Trippier.
Rodrigo‘s 2,856 passes is the most in the division, with Brighton’s Lewis Dunk next on 2,695.
In total, we have played 20,424 passes this season - over a 1,000 more than second most Brighton.
Ederson‘s eight clean sheets means he’s second in that ranking for the term.
Our 67 goals is the joint-second most with Liverpool, only behind Arsenal on 72.
Our 29 goals conceded is bettered only by Arsenal (24) and Liverpool (27).
