Phil Foden and his teammates wheel away in celebration after late winner against Leeds United
Phil Foden scored a brace as Manchester City defeated Leeds United 3-2 in their English Premier League (EPL) encounter at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The England international scored the opener in the first minute and the winner in the 90th minute as Leeds threatened to dent Man City’s stuttering EPL title challenge by cancelling their two-goal lead. Josko Gvardiol had doubled City’s advantage before Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha netted to restore parity.
Foden slammed Mattheus Nunes’ cutback into the net with a first-time shot to put City 1-0 ahead 50 seconds into the match, the midfielder scoring the fastest goal in the EPL this season.
The home side hugged majority of the possession and looked set for an easy afternoon when Gvardiol reacted to Matt O’Riley’s header to finish with aplomb for 2-0 scoreline as they cruised into halftime break.
Advertisement
However, Leeds got a goal back when Calvert-Lewin reacted first to a loose Nunes interception to slot into the net beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma for 2-1 three minutes after the restart, and the striker forced a penalty midway into the second period when he was brought down by Gvardiol. Nmecha’s spotkick was saved, but he finished off the rebound to restore parity on 68 minutes. There was still time for more drama as Foden scored the winner one minute into added time, creating space for himself before firing a low left-foot drive into the net to seal the 3-2 victory, and return City to winning ways after losing their last two matches in all competitions.
Pep Guardiola’s side returned to second place with 25 points from 13 matches, and cut Arsenal’s lead at the top to four points.
In other EPL matches, Sunderland came from two goals down to defeat Bournemouth 3-2 at the Stadium of Light, while Igor Thiago’s brace led Brentford to a 3-1 win over Burnley.
Advertisement
