Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez has praised Phil Foden as a “really important” asset to the club after reaching 200 first-team appearances for the club.
The England star marked the occasion with a goal just before half-time in City’s 4-1 win at Bournemouth, his first strike in the Premier League since November. The form of teammates coupled with injury saw Foden in and out of Pep Guardiola’s starting XI within the past month but Alvarez underlined how crucial he is to the Blues’ arsenal.
"He's really important for us," Alvarez said of Foden while speaking to club media. "It's not easy to get that many appearances for City. He's really helping us and I'm really happy for him.”
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Alvarez himself bagged a goal in the win at the Vitality Stadium, his tenth of the campaign, and also hit the shot that led to Chris Mepham’s own-goal in the second half.
The World Cup winner played a full 90 minutes for just the fourth time in the Premier League this season and was pleased with his output.
He added: “Very happy with my performance. I’m always ready whenever the manager needs to call on me and today was a great game.”
Erling Haaland also got on the scoresheet on the night, assisted by Foden, and Alvarez was delighted that City were able to find the net four times and get maximum points to keep the gap to Arsenal to two points having played a game more.
The Argentine said: “Very happy, we need to keep amassing points. It’s a long season so I’m very happy with the performance today and to get three points.
"We knew it was a really important game for us to win so the games are coming thick and fast and now it’s onto the next one.”
The Blues travel to Bristol City in the FA Cup on Tuesday before welcoming Newcastle to the Etihad in Saturday lunchtime's Premier League clash.
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