Foden’s second-half brace propelled Manchester City to a 3-1 comeback victory over Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium.
Marcus Rashford’s stunning long-range strike gave Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United an unexpected lead in the Manchester derby.
Erling Haaland meanwhile missed a sitter from close range, probably one of the misses of the season. That allowed United to maintain their advantage until halftime. However, they were unable to preserve their lead for the entire match.
Foden leveled the score with a superb strike before putting Manchester City ahead with a well-placed shot.
Haaland sealed the victory for City in stoppage time, finally finding the back of the net to better reflect his team’s dominance and end Manchester United’s streak of 143 Premier League games without losing when leading at halftime.
Ten Hag could take solace in a strategy that held up for nearly an hour and lament marginal decisions that didn’t favor his team, but ultimately, City emerged as deserving victors.
The win extends their unbeaten streak to 19 games and brings Pep Guardiola‘s side within one point of league leaders Liverpool, whom they face next Sunday.
How a dramatic derby unfolded
Ten Hag had claimed that Rashford could be unstoppable when at his best and that was the only way to describe his strike to stun City early on.
Andre Onana’s long ball was held up by Bruno Fernandes, who was played onside by Nathan Ake, and Rashford did the rest.
It was a scathing response to critics of his earlier performance and provided United with a lifeline, which they held onto for the remainder of the first half despite relentless City attacks.
Guardiola’s team unleashed 18 shots in the opening 45 minutes, but Onana’s goal remained intact.
Haaland’s inexplicable miss just before halftime was the clearest opportunity to equalize. Foden’s well-placed header presented Haaland with a simple task of redirecting the ball into the empty net from close range, but he somehow managed to lift it over the crossbar.
Ten Hag expressed his frustration by throwing his water bottle to the ground when Rashford was not awarded a free-kick after a tug on the shoulder by Kyle Walker. His anger only intensified when Foden scored seconds later.
Foden’s finish matched that of his England teammate Rashford at the other end, but unlike Rashford, who was substituted with the score still level, Foden was far from finished. Shifting to the left, he linked up with Julian Alvarez to beat Onana low to his left.
United appeared devoid of direction, their strategy dismantled. Nonetheless, there was a touch of apprehension when the board displayed eight minutes of added time.
Soon enough, Sofyan Amrabat lost possession to Rodri, who then teed up Haaland to finally secure the goal that had evaded him earlier.
Man City’s derby win in stats per Sky Sports
This was the first time that Manchester City had ever come from behind to beat Manchester United in a Premier League match. They had lost the previous 15 times in a row that they had trailed against Man Utd in the league before today.
Manchester United lost a Premier League game in which they led at half-time for the first time since September 2014 against Leicester (5-3), ending their run of 143 unbeaten games when ahead at the break in the competition since then.
Man City fired in 18 shots in the first half of this game – this is the joint-most that Manchester United have faced since Opta have this data available (from 2003-04).
Phil Foden has scored 18 goals in all competitions for Man City this season – his most ever in a single campaign, surpassing the 16 he netted in 2020-21.
Manchester United attempted just three shots in this match; only once on record (from 2003-04) have they had fewer in a single Premier League game (two against Liverpool in April 2022).
