Phil Foden helped Enzo Maresca create Premier League history after the Manchester City boss correctly backed him to break his goal drought.
Foden made an instant impact on his return to action following a three-match suspension by scoring his first competitive goal since last December in Saturday’s 3-2 win over Ipswich.
The 26-year-old opened the scoring for the Citizens from close range in the 19th minute following great work by Jeremy Doku.
It was a welcome strike for Foden, who has struggled to reach the levels he set in the 2023/24 season when he was crowned PFA Player of the Year after scoring 19 top-flight goals – 27 in all competitions.
While many wouldn’t have tipped Foden to get on the score sheet against the Tractor Boys, Maresca was in no doubt that his player would end his barren spell.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday, the Italian boldly predicted that Foden’s quality in front of goals would soon shine through.
What did Maresca say about Foden?
“He will score tomorrow!,” Maresca boldly predicted.
“We just try to work with him day by day.
“The international break and since the red card against United has been quite long.
“But he has been training well, he’s doing well since we made a very positive start, very good.
“We need to decide if he starts tomorrow or not and if he does, no doubt he will give us something.”
Foden’s goal would have delighted Maresca as his side continued their 100 per cent start to the season.
What Premier League record has Maresca created?
The victory gave Maresca a little taste of history by becoming the first manager in Premier League to win his first seven matches in charge of a club.
Erling Haaland scored twice to take his tally to eight goals in seven league games.
But there was concern for Maresca after the Norwegian was seen limping down the tunnel after the final whistle after taking a knock to his foot.
Haaland was expected to be rested for Tuesday’s Champions League clash with AEK Athens. with Maresca to now be hoping the striker is available for next weekend’s trip to Aston Villa.
But the injury concerns do not stop there for the Manchester City boss with a further four players picking up knocks.
Antoine Semenyo and Iliman Ndiaye were both seen limping after the match, while Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes went off with knocks.
What did Foden say after ending his goal drought?
With his goal drought now over, Foden has declared his strike against Ipswich will be the catalyst for more in the ner future.
He told BBC Radio Manchester: “I set such high standards of myself to always try and score goals, assist, and because I hadn’t scored for a long time I’ve just been trying to practice as much as I can in training and hopefully it paid off.
“Today it finally did. I’m really happy. The first one is always the hardest to score.”
Foden also stated: “It’s been such a hard time.
“It’s been over a month I couldn’t play [due to suspension and international break], so it’s been quite annoying. I’ve had to be patient, train on my own sometimes, it’s not been easy.
“But today, to get out there and score and get three points, it’s what I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”
Foden was also pressed for his opinion regarding the ongoing guilty verdict shrouding the club.
To which he said: “We just try to not listen to anything.
“The noise going around, we try to just stick to our football, take it game by game, and I think you can see that it’s not affecting us one bit.
“We’re still 100 per cent focussed on winning football games, and I think that’s how it has to be.
“The main focus is doing our job, and that’s all we can do.”