Brentford 1-3 Manchester City: Foden hits hat-trick as Citizens close in on league leaders
Phil Foden scored a brilliantly composed hat-trick as Manchester City turned on the style to earn a 3-1 comeback win at struggling Brentford on Monday, bringing them within two points of Premier League leaders Liverpool with one game in hand.
Despite almost constant City pressure, Brentford took the lead with a Neal Maupay goal after 21 minutes, only for Foden to level just before halftime and add two more excellent goals as the visitors took control with another masterful display of possession and probing.
Liverpool, who lost to Arsenal on Sunday, lead the table with 51 points from 23 games, while City have 49 from 22 and Arsenal have 49 from 23.
"He always had an eye for a goal," City manager Pep Guardiola said of Foden. "He's got 250 games already and he's had an impact with goals this season. He's incredible."
"I think we deserved it but they are a really tough opponent. We had a lot of chances and their keeper was sensational."
Brentford completed the double over City last season, defeating them 1-0 in London in the final game in May when the title was already secured, after winning 2-1 at the Etihad in November.
Another victory appeared unlikely after the one-sided early exchanges on Monday, when Julian Alvarez twice and Kyle Walker had curling shots saved by Brentford keeper Mark Flekken.
Brentford, however, struck first with a Sunday football goal, as Flekken launched a goal kick that Nathan Ake, under pressure from Ivan Toney, failed to touch, leaving Maupay with a clear run on goal and calmly tucking the ball into the bottom corner after 21 minutes.
Maupay could not buy a goal while at Everton, but has now scored five goals in his last five games in all competitions while on loan at Brentford.
Erling Haaland had a chance to equalize right away, but Flekken saved with his feet once more before stopping Josko Gvardial.
Brentford then won a series of corners, resulting in the unusual sight of nine of their players in the six-yard box, with only one outfield player from each side occupying the remaining 90 metres of grass.
They came to nothing, however, and City levelled in first-half stoppage time when Foden seized on a weak clearance header, calmly chesting the ball down and sweeping it in with his side's 17th attempt on goal in the half.
The ever-elusive Foden scored again in the 53rd minute, after Kevin de Bruyne clipped in a perfect cross for the unmarked midfielder to glance home.
Brentford made a flurry of attempts, but City dealt with them before Foden completed his treble with another calm finish following a one-two with Haaland in the 70th minute.
The turnaround was unsurprising given that City had won their last three away league games despite falling behind, whereas Brentford are the league's worst at squandering leads, having cost them 26 points this season.
Brentford have three points from their last eight league games, losing seven of them, and have dropped to 15th place, three points above the relegation zone.
"It was a good performance overall from us, we did a lot of things right," said manager Thomas Frank.
"In the first half we defended very well and limited them to shots outside the box, but in the second half they got a tiny bit of space and that made the difference."
SportsLigue