Premier League hits and misses: Phil Foden, Manchester City’s top scorer, deserves a Premier League career | Football news

It’s time for Foden to run for real

Pep Guardiola has long spoken about Phil Foden in glowing terms. In the run-up to Wednesday’s win over Brighton, he praised the 20-year-old’s “high standards” and, after his winning goal, he again praised City’s brightest prospect.

“He deserves to play,” he said. “I try to judge the team in the recent past, on a day-to-day basis, and I have the feeling that he lives his life 24 hours to play football.”

That will cheer Foden, who may have some questions about why he has only started seven of Manchester City’s 16 Premier League games this season; after all, he’s now their top scorer in all competitions and has rarely let his team down when he has. juice.

Age is still very much on Foden’s side, and few 20-year-olds would be the first choice in clubs seeking big titles, but having produced another man-of-the-match performance against Brighton, he should have a chance to continue to show what he is. . you can do it in the second half of the season.

Only Guardiola and his staff really know what Foden is like in training camp, but to say that his “standards are higher” in recent weeks seems harsh from his first-team performances. Whatever the reason, let’s hope Foden found the key to staying on his manager’s good books. Gareth Southgate, a keen observer at the Etihad on Wednesday, certainly will.
Ron Walker

Is Areola the signing of the season?

Scott Parker is a coach who doesn’t mind making quick decisions. After the first games of the season, Fulham seemed stuck in relegation. Instead of sticking to a losing formula, though, Parker acted by chipping in some crafty buys on the deadline day. Their choice has to be Alphonse Areola.

Marek Rodak is a very talented goalkeeper and he did a great job for Parker in helping the club rise, but the Frenchman Areola is a huge step forward. The 27-year-old is showing why he was deemed good enough for Real Madrid. He is a goalkeeper who oozes class, as evidenced by another outstanding performance in the 1-1 draw with Tottenham.

The ceded PSG cap has a habit of making crucial stops at crucial moments while displaying flawless concentration levels. He made five saves for the national team Heung-Min Son, who seemed surprised that the Fulham man managed to get his precise header off the ground in the first half.

Even José Mourinho highlighted Areola for his individual performance. Fulham has a real gem.
Lewis jones

All eyes on Anfield for United’s biggest test

January 19, 2020 was the day Liverpool fans saw enough, after 30 long years of heartbreak and false sunrises their title aspirations had come true, and Anfield made it known.

A 2-0 win over Manchester United that day moved Jurgen Klopp’s team 16 points ahead at the top and a staggering 30 point lead over their old rivals, prompting shouts of ‘we’re going to win the league. ‘of the exuberant. Anfield faithful.

A year later, we are presented with a very different picture as the two biggest clubs in English football prepare to renew their rivalry.

Since that fateful day at Anfield, United haven’t lost a Premier League game away from home, and their latest road win at Burnley sees them return to the home of the Premier League champions and with a cushion of three. goals.

In less than 12 months, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has transformed Manchester United’s fortunes and the prospect of driving a six-point gap between them and Liverpool shows just how far they have come.

But as Liverpool will attest, it is at this stage of the season, and in what follows, that champions really are made, a sentiment echoed by Solskjaer, who rightly pointed out that no one remembers who topped the league of anybody. season in mid-January.

Manchester United are certainly back in the title race, but that is not an achievement in itself for a club of such stature. The hard work has just begun, and all eyes will be on Anfield to see if they can make their biggest statement yet.
Jack wilkinson

Keane indispensable?

The Everton defender is nearing the peak of his career and is playing like a man at the top of his game. After turning 28 on Monday, Keane is now sporting the finished item. All that was talked about before the game against the Wolves was how much the Toffees would miss Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s influence, but this performance suggested that Keane is Everton’s most important player at the moment.

Since trading to four in the draw at Burnley, Everton have conceded just three goals in six games. And the only loss in that streak was at home to West Ham when Keane was away. His influence was evident in Molineux.

No player made more punts than him (8) and of course he appeared with the winning goal, his fourth goal of the campaign.

Remember the days of Marco Silva when Everton sent goals at an alarming rate? Well those days are gone. They have the best set piece defense record in the division, conceding just once all season.

With Keane at heart, Everton no longer flip easily. Who knows where it might lead?
Lewis jones

Little hope of change for Newcastle fans

Steve Bruce deflected questions about his future at Newcastle after his eighth game without a win at previously unwinning Sheffield United, saying he was “the wrong man to ask” about whether he would have a chance to continue at St James. ‘ Park.

He’s right, but that shouldn’t offer any consolation to see Newcastle fans still pining for the Rafa Benitez era, or at least some hope of progression on the horizon.

The pressure from the Newcastle fan base, and can also be judged amidst the still empty seats at Tyneside in every home game since March, has increased with the Toon coming out of both cup competitions in the space of one. week, and now falling to possibly his lowest result and performance of the season.

But what does that matter in the era of Mike Ashley? The only metric that counts is the survival of the Premier League. Newcastle are, at least for now, eight points clear of the fall, and as long as his top flight status is not seriously in question, or perhaps even if it is, history suggests the coach is going nowhere.
Ron Walker

The slightest bit of hope for Sheffield United

Finally, the first victory has come for Sheffield United and Chris Wilder. As the manager said, “it’s been a long time coming,” but maybe it’s more than three points in the grand scheme of things.

Wilder’s Blades certainly haven’t played like a team that got off to the worst start in Premier League history, scoring just two points from their previous 17 games this season.

That may give you a shred of optimism, no more than your miserable position, that the unthinkable may be possible.

They once said the same thing about being passive at Christmas. Ask Bryan Robson at West Bromwich Albion what they think about that.

“The season doesn’t end in January,” Wilder said in his typically upbeat press conference after this well-deserved victory. If the Blades had lost to another side, they would hope to get into the mix, maybe it would have been. But now finally up and running thanks to two wins in four days in all competitions, never say never.
Ron Walker