Phil Foden 'feels more like himself' as Man City striker warns rivals

Phil Foden bounced back for Manchester City by dazzling in their 4-0 win over Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The English sensation played a crucial role, scoring a goal and providing an assist, to breathe life into City's European campaign with a resounding victory in Slovakia.

For Foden, who won Player of the Year last season, the start of the season has been difficult and marred by fitness issues. This match marked only his second start since August.

Foden said after the match: “It was obviously a good night for me to be back out there. It's nice to score again, but more importantly I'm enjoying my football again. I'm delighted with the result and the way I played.

“I had a very slow start to the season, with a bit of illness and a bit of fatigue, but I'm getting back into it now and feeling more like myself.”

City's victory seemed assured after an initial blitz with strikes from Ilkay Gundogan and Foden in the first quarter of an hour.

Although they hammered the target three times and conjured up several scoring chances, it was only when Erling Haaland and James McAtee scored – who scored his first goal for City – that the fate of the match was sealed.

Foden added: “I don't think it was easy, it was difficult to break them down. You have to give them respect and the atmosphere was incredible, but we got the job done in the end.

“I had a few chances that I could have put away and on another night it could have been more goals, but we can't complain about our clean sheet, 4-0, we'll take that whatever what a day.”

Manchester City now have four points in the Champions League after their draw against Inter Milan a fortnight ago.

As they return their focus to domestic duties, Pep Guardiola's men prepare to face Fulham this Saturday in the Premier League, keen to secure their first win in three matches following recent stalemates against Arsenal and Newcastle.

“I'm obviously confident and I believe in the team, but this season the teams have played the same way, they defend at the edge of the box and it's been difficult to break them down,” added Foden.

“Hopefully we can find new ways to break this game up and score goals. That's the goal.”