Foden double sees off stubborn Leeds

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Gallery: Fantastic Foden downs Leeds!

The Blues had seen a two-goal half-time lead erased as a rejuvenated Leeds fought back to make it 2-2 midway through the second half.

There had looked to be only one winner as goals from Foden and Josko Gvardiol gave the Blues a deserved advantage at the break.

But defensive errors led to Dominic Calvert-Lewin pulling one back just after the restart and Lukas Nmecha levelling despite Gianluigi Donnarumma initially saving his penalty on 68 minutes.

It looked to be heading for a point apiece until Foden took matters into his own hands, cutting into the box from the right before drilling home the winner into the bottom left corner to send a relieved Etihad wild.

The game in 250 words

City couldn’t have made a better start.

It took just one minute to take the lead with a well-worked team goal that will have delighted Pep Guardiola.

Matheus Nunes collected the ball, played it inside to Bernardo Silva and his threaded pass back to Nunes saw the Portuguese cross perfectly for Phil Foden to volley home off the underside of the crossbar from six yards out.

Not much happened in the way of talking points again until the 25 minutes when the Blues went 2-0 up.

Foden’s corner found the head of Nico O’Reilly and it dropped invitingly for Josko Gvardiol who prodded home from a couple of yards out.

A lengthy VAR check followed, but the possible Bernardo offside was cleared.

Nico and Tijjani Reijnders went close to adding a third but there was no further scoring before the break.

The visitors made two attacking substitutions at the start of the second-half, and one of them, Dominic Calvert-Lewin capitalised on a Nunes misjudgement to poke the ball home.

The Blues struggled to find any rhythm and rarely threatened as the half wore on and on 68 minutes, we were punished again as Calvert-Lewin was felled by Gvardiol’s mis-timed challenge and a penalty was awarded.

Lukas Nmecha saw his spot-kick saved by Donnarumma, but the rebound fell back to the ex-City player to tap home.

It was a turnaround nobody had seen coming and looked very much like two points dropped given Leeds’ lowly position.

But with 10 minutes of added time just announced, Foden stole the headlines with a terrific low drive from 12 yards to seal a dramatic 3-2 victory.

Line-ups

CITY: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Nico, Bernardo (Marmoush 89), Reijnders (Cherki 75), Foden, Doku (Stones 90+6), Haaland

Subs: Trafford, Ake, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Khusanov, Lewis

LEEDS UNITED:  Perri, Bogle, Justin (Gudmundsson 69), Rodon, Struijk, Ampadu, Tanaka (Aaronson 90+2), Gruev, James (Calvert-Lewin 46), Gnonto (Bijol 46) Nmecha (Okafor 82)

Subs: Meslier, Byram, Harrison, Piroe

ATTENDANCE: 52,483

Star Man

An easy choice, Phil Foden’s brace bookended a victory that was hard-earned for City.

The brightest spark on the pitch, the Blues need Foden - and others - to find the net when Erling Haaland doesn’t and his display will have thrilled his manager.

His first goal was a controlled volley from close range and his second a fine individual effort.

Terrific stuff from our No.47.

Not vintage but vital

It was not a stellar City display by any means, but the result was the most important aspect of this game.

The Blues are still a work in progress and, at times, a little rough around the edges.

Retaining possession is not as easy as it once was and Pep Guardiola will be concerned about the amount of times we gave the ball away against Leeds - not to mention allowing a two-goal lead to slip on home soil.

But getting back to winning ways was vital after two recent defeats.

The confidence and polish will return, without doubt.

		Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Form
1		Arsenal Arsenal	13	9	3	1	25	7	18	30
2		Manchester City Man City	13	8	1	4	27	12	15	25
3		Chelsea Chelsea	13	7	3	3	24	12	12	24

Pep Reaction

“The game was not in the perfect place in the first half, but it should be over for the chances we have and we didn’t concede.

“And after that brilliantly, Daniel changed the system like Leverkusen did, the 5-3-2 and we conceded a goal we gave away in the first minutes [of the second half].

“The build-up was completely different, and the shape takes influence in the way you play.

“Football is emotions and in that moment we concede the second.

“We made a step up and we reacted really well. Omar and Cherki came on, and we got more players in the box.

“In the last minute we had to put the ball quick to the box because in that moment the process doesn’t exist.

“Being with fullbacks or wingers it doesn’t matter. At the end it was the quality of Phil again, a player with special [talent].

FODEN reactioN

“It’s up there as one of the wildest games. We had full control in the first half. They changed their system in the second half and we couldn’t get going.

“It was a frustrating half. But when there was a short break the manager got us together and we adapted to their formation. We had a few half chances and finally I’ve found a bit of space and found the bottom of the net.

“There are still things we can improve. We’re delighted with the result.

“The title race is never straightforward. There’s always ups and downs and periods where you can’t seem to get going and we’ve had that.

“The belief and togetherness came through at the end.

“Hopefully that’s the case today that we can kick on from here. But you never know what to expect.

“I was so hungry today to play and prove to myself I could still score goals. I missed a few chances against Newcastle and wanted to put it right.”

What it means

City move up to second in the Premier League, four points adrift of Arsenal who take on third placed Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.

It also means the Blues are currently the division’s top scorers with 27 goals scored so far.

Up next

City travel to West London on Tuesday, 2 December to take on Fulham in the Premier League.

The game at Craven Cottage kicks off at 19:30 (UK).

Then we host Sunderland next Saturday, 6 December with the clash against the Black Cats kicking off at 15:00 (UK).