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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Jack Flintham

Micah Richards explains what Phil Foden offers that other Man City forwards don't

Micah Richards has praised Phil Foden for his ability to bring width to Manchester City's attack following his goalscoring return against Bournemouth on Saturday.

Foden showcased his incredible reading of the game to score City's third just before the interval at the Vitality Stadium. A poor pass by Phillip Billing was intercepted well by the 22-year-old who fired home his tenth goal of the season.

Earlier in the half, Foden provided the knockdown for Erling Haaland to make it 2-0 as City went on to win 4-1 to keep in touching distance of leaders Arsenal. Analysing his performance on Match of the Day, Richards explained how pleased he was to see the Englishman return to stellar form this weekend.

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He said: "He was out, obviously he had an injury, he was out ill and [Riyad] Mahrez has been so good in that position on the right hand side but Foden came back today and he was excellent. He just offers so much to his game.

"He has got cute little passing but I look when you are watching Manchester City that everybody wants the ball to feet but I love the way he is always willing to run in behind. He is effortless when he is on the ball, he can go right, he can go left.

"He comes into the picture a little bit late here [for the second goal]. How many times have we seen Man City go to the middle of the pitch? He stays wide.

"He wants the ball here so that he can dictate the defender, instead of the defender dictating to him because he can go both ways. His anticipation [for his goal].

"Look at the touches, one, two, three touch, just take it away from the defender and then just finish. Time after time with Foden, we know how good he is, he has gone off the boil a little bit but today he was back to his best.

"It will be difficult as they have got a lot of players in these positions but his performance today was 10/10. Spot on."

Before starting against Nottingham Forest last weekend, Foden had not started a Premier League match since the defeat to Manchester United in January. City return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to Bristol City in the FA Cup fifth round.

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