Foden and Guardiola agree there is more to come after Palace win
Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-0 with Phil Foden among the goalscorers, but Pep Guardiola still wants to see more from him.
Phil Foden and Pep Guardiola both agreed there is more to come from the England international after he scored in Manchester City's 3-0 win over Crystal Palace.
City cut Arsenal's lead at the top of the Premier League table back to two points with a convincing victory at Selhurst Park, with Erling Haaland scoring in either half.
Foden struck between those two goals, picking out the bottom-right corner from distance after Rayan Cherki's jinking run past Adam Wharton and Will Hughes.
He has now scored in four consecutive Premier League matches (six goals in total) for the second time in his career, having also done so in January 2025.
Only Kevin De Bruyne (30), Sergio Aguero (21) and Yaya Toure (16) have scored more Premier League goals from outside the box for City than Foden (12 – level with Carlos Tevez).
His eight goals from outside the box since the start of 2023-24, meanwhile, have only been bettered by Kylian Mbappe (24) across Europe's top five leagues.
But neither Foden nor Guardiola felt he had his best game in south London.
"Every time I have been here it has been such a challenge," Foden told BBC Match of the Day. "It was a close game, with a lot of duels to be won. It was scrappy at times.
"The second half was much better than the first and that was the key. I'm really happy with the goal at the right time. It just made us a little bit more relaxed.
"It was a crucial goal at a crucial time. I've been in good form, scoring a lot recently and long may it continue.
"In the first half I gave a lot of balls away and I was trying to do too much with it. Against Palace, you need to relax and play extra passes.
"That is the standard I set myself and so does the manager. He knows there is more to come from me."
Foden did not create a chance for a team-mate on Sunday, though he did hit the target with two of his three shots, which had a total expected goals (xG) value of just 0.13.
Guardiola told BBC Match of the Day of Foden: "Today he didn't play good, he lost a lot of balls.
"He was rushing with every action, he needed to play more calmly and keep the ball and in the right moments, change the gear. Saying that, he is doing terrific for the team.
"It is a really, really tough place to come. They are so good when they attack the channels inside with Yeremy Pino, [Jean-Philippe] Mateta and Ismaila Sarr.
"We have tried to work a lot and be ourselves, but still we are not at the top in some moments. We can be better and better. We are in a good position, and the players are doing fantastically so far."
