Imperious Foden back to his best as City refuse to throw in the towel
Phil Foden produced a beautiful back-heel to set up Man City’s opening goal - Darren Staples/AFP Manchester City are not ready to throw in the towel in the Premier League title race just yet and, on this evidence, Phil Foden is unwilling to do the same in a belated pursuit of a World Cup place with England. Pep Guardiola gambled with his team selection here, so much so in fact that you had to wonder if the City manager felt the title had already gone. But his stand-ins – led by the imperious Foden – delivered a very professional display and three fine goals against Crystal Palace to ensure Arsenal still have plenty of work to do yet if they are to end their 20-year wait for the championship.
Pep Guardiola congratulates Foden on his performance - Jason Cairnduff/Action Images With a trip to Bournemouth next Tuesday, three days after the FA Cup final against Chelsea at Wembley, before the final-day visit of Aston Villa, Guardiola clearly felt something had to give and so chose this game at home to Palace to ring the changes. It was a bold move – and given the way Palace started, one that initially looked like it might backfire – but then Foden grabbed hold of the game, remembered there is still an outstanding player in there and City never looked back. This has been another tough season for Foden, an autumn flourish eventually giving way to more despondency, but could he be timing his run for an England call-up to perfection?
His virtuoso performance here, which featured assists for the opening two goals – the first an arresting, no-look back-heel that most players could not have dreamt up, let alone executed – followed strong showings from the bench against Everton and Brentford. Phil Foden with the backheel and Antoine Semenyo with the finish 🤩 pic. twitter.
com/CXpABEZrOB — Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 13, 2026 Whether it is enough to persuade Thomas Tuchel to take him to the US remains to be seen but before then he and City will aim to add the FA Cup to the Carabao Cup they won in March – and pray Arsenal slip up before they face Bournemouth. With relegated Burnley the visitors to the Emirates Stadium on Monday, that seems unlikely. But, at the very least, City will hope to take it to the final day.
Palace faded away after their bright start and will have to play better than this to trouble Arsenal on the final day at Selhurst Park, although they will also have an eye on their Europa Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano the following Wednesday. So the odds remain stacked against City, but it is not done yet. Full report to follow...
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