Fifth success in a row for the Spanish coach’s team who now return to see the Reds first in the standings up close
– London
The hero is Phil Foden. And the most worrying thing for the rest of the Premier League is that the author of the hat-trick that made the comeback 3-1 at Brentford is just one of the many phenomena at Pep Guardiola’s court. One of those who make bookmakers repeat that Manchester City is still the favorite team to win the Premier League, even if Liverpool remains leaders with two points ahead (and one game more than the champions) and Arsenal proved right yesterday beating the Reds to be strong. Not like City, however, who took their fifth win in a row at the Gtech Stadium, making the situation more complicated for Thomas Frank’s team, ahead first but leaving the field with the 7th defeat in the last 8 league matches.
the keys
—
Foden did wonders in an attacking team, which dominated from start to finish with goalkeeper Flekken as the best player on the pitch for a long time. Guardiola launched the 4-1-Fantasia with Haaland as the offensive point of reference and behind him Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Julián Álvarez and Foden free to move. The 23-year-old Englishman was the one who took advantage of it the most, wandering around the entire offensive front looking for the position in which to do the most damage: he succeeded so well that he took home the ball of the match. In addition to him, an extraordinary game from Kevin De Bruyne, who lit up the game with the assist for the second goal and who played 90 minutes for the first time in the season, while Erling Haaland was still rusty and returned to the starting lineup for the first time since the beginning of December. City, with this show of strength and character, has shown that they have probably already begun that string of victories which in recent years has always made the difference in winning the Premier League. The worst news for their rivals is that Guardiola’s team still has enormous room for improvement. And that he has an endless collection of jewels that the others don’t have.
the match
—
City dominates and Flekken is immediately Brentford’s hero, but it is the hosts who break the deadlock: the goalkeeper returns long, Toney cunningly sends Aké wide, freeing Maupay’s counterattack, who in the 21st minute passes Ederson. City resumed dominating with their 4-1-Fantasia and equalized in the 3rd minute of added time, with Foden taking advantage of a missed clearance by Pinnock and putting past Flekken. The script repeats itself in the 53rd minute, this time with a splendid assist from De Bruyne which Guardiola’s number 47 converts into the unstoppable header to make it 2-1. This time Brentford tried to react and became dangerous, but in the 70th minute Foden combined with Haaland on the edge of the area and slipped quickly into the opposing defence, passing Flekken again. It is the goal that brings the curtain down on the match, which gives Foden his evening as a goalscorer (8 in the Premier League, plus 7 assists) and which reminds everyone how City remain the team to beat.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED