Enzo Maresca recalled Foden to the starting XI following his dismissal in mid-September’s victory over Manchester United and the Englishman repaid the manager’s faith within just 19 minutes, sweeping in his first City goal since December 2025 from Jérémy Doku’s accurate pass.
The visitors struck back two minutes later as Daizen Maeda raced through to finish confidently beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Shortly after the half-hour mark, we restored our lead following fantastic work from Mateo Kovačić to set up the prolific Erling Haaland, who made it 11 goals in his last eight City appearances this season with a powerful header into the bottom corner.
With just over 20 minutes left to play, Haaland struck his second of the afternoon, showing strength and power to hold off Abdoul Ouattara before coolly slotting in from Iliman Ndiaye’s pass.
Our towering forward thought he had his hat-trick with five minutes left of normal time, but his sumptuous half-volley was disallowed for an offside in the build up, before Zian Flemming pulled one back from the penalty spot with the clock ticking into stoppage time to give the visitors hope of a comeback.
We saw out the remainder of the 12 minutes of added time to make it seven wins in our opening seven Premier League fixtures, making Maresca the first manager in the competition to ever win their first seven games in charge of a club.
View the best images from the victory via our gallery below.
