Phil Foden 'feeling more like himself' as Man City attacker warns rivals

Phil Foden bounced back to form for Manchester City as he dazzled in their 4-0 thumping of Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The English sensation was pivotal, notching a goal and assisting another, to spark City’s European campaign into life with a commanding win in Slovakia.

For Foden, who claimed last season’s player of the year title, it’s been a troublesome period at the start of the season marred by fitness woes. This match marked only his second start since August.

Foden said post-match: “It was a good night for myself, obviously, being back out there. It’s nice to score again, but more importantly I’m just enjoying my football again. I’m delighted with the result and how I played.

“I’ve had a very slow start to the season with a bit of illness and a bit of fatigue, but I’m getting back into it now and feeling more like myself.”

City’s victory seemed assured after an initial blitz with strikes from both Ilkay Gundogan and Foden within the first quarter-of-an-hour.

Despite hammering the framework three times and conjuring several scoring opportunities, it wasn’t until Erling Haaland and James McAtee scored – who netted his inaugural goal for City – that the match’s fate was sealed.

Foden added: “I don’t think it was easy, it was tough to break them down. You’ve got to give them respect and the atmosphere was unbelievable, but we did the job in the end.

“I had a few chances that I could have put away and on another night it could have been more goals but we can’t complain clean sheet, 4-0, we’ll take that any day.”

Manchester City now sit on four points in the Champions League following their draw with Inter Milan a fortnight ago.

As they shift focus back to domestic duties, Pep Guardiola’s side gear up for a clash against Fulham this Saturday in the Premier League, eager to claim their first win in three matches after recent stalemates against Arsenal and Newcastle.

“I am obviously confident and believe in the team but this season teams have played the same way, where they defend on the edge of the box and it’s been difficult to break them down,” Foden added.

“Hopefully we can find new ways to break it down and score goals. That’s the aim.”