‘Best in the world’ – Phil Foden says undervalued aspect is key to Man City success

Phil Foden has said that while the attackers at Manchester City often get credit, they notably have the best defence in the world.

City have won all four of their opening games, already creating a two-point gap at the top. The club are aiming for history this season as they look to become the first side to win the English top-flight for a fourth consecutive time. Guardiola’s team, led by Juanma Lillo, showed little sign of slowing down in their 5-1 win over Fulham on Saturday, albeit with a controversial second goal to restore their lead.

Erling Haaland scored his seventh hat-trick for the club as he took his overall tally for City to 58 goals in 59 games. The 23-year-old was joined on the scoresheet by Julian Alvarez, while Jeremy Doku also made his debut for the club. Add in the likes of Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva to the mix and the treble-winners’ forward line is the envy of world football.

Meanwhile, Foden has been excelling in a more central role so far this season, in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne, picking up three assists in four league games.It are those headline-grabbing numbers, though, that Foden feels causes the quality across City’s defence to often be overlooked.

“A lot of strikers get the credit in this team but we’ve got the best defenders in the world.,” Foden told Sky Sports. “The defenders are the reason we’ve won so many things. We’ve won things because of how hard we work off the ball, chasing back for each other, filling in,” he said.

Phil Foden has hit the nail on the head, especially about the current Manchester City defence.

City have kept two clean sheets in the new campaign and have claimed the highest number of shutouts across the league in two of the last three seasons. The recent addition of Josko Gvardiol only strengthens an already formidable backline, with Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake getting the nod against Fulham.