Manchester City beat Aston Villa, who missed the equalizer Martínez: Julián Álvarez was the starter, but the one who shone was Phil Foden

“Phil Foden is the best player in the Premier League”the declaration of Pep Guardiola It happened on March 3, exactly one month ago, and if it caused discussion then, time has now proven the club’s Catalan coach right. Manchester City. The 23-year-old Stockport-born left attacker was the star of the 4-1 victory Aston Villa which left the Citizens on the same line as Liverpool and one point behind leaders, Arsenal.

Foden averaged triplet with his magical left foot against the team led by Basque Unai Emery, who made a lot of mistakes Emiliano Drawing Martinez. The goalkeeper of the Argentina national team was ruled out of the duel at the Etihad Stadium at the last minute due to a viral illness. In his place there was the Swede Robin Olsen who lived a real nightmare.

Guardola’s action went well. The manager has decided to rotate his players as they will play the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against Real Madrid on Tuesday. Then, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones went to the bench so that Julián Álvarez, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku, among others, could enjoy more minutes.

The former River striker from Córdoba played a decent game, allowing himself to be overshadowed by the excellent performance of his attacking partner. But the other highlight of the place was the Spaniard Rodri, who opened the account in the 11th minute with a good definition in the area after first connecting the center behind Doku. Aston Villa immediately made it 1-1 after a nice counterattack that defined the score John Jader Duránthe 20-year-old Colombian striker from Envigado who scored his sixth goal of the season.

Then the spectacle of Foden’s goals began. The first, from a free kick, made it 2-1. A left-footed shot from the goal of the area which had the complicity of the visiting players who climbed the barrier and opened up, leaving Olsen defenseless. In the second half the player in the ’47 shirt defines himself with a precise touch that hits the post and comes in on an assist from Rodri.

And finally Foden scores the 4-1 and his hat-trick with a violent shot from outside the area that hits high, near the corner. Then Guardiola brought it out so much that the whole stadium applauded him. City managed to increase the victory with Julián Álvarez, but the Córdoba player was unable to break Martínez’s replacement.

“When you win matches that’s when you become a world-class player. And he wins them”, Guardiola said in March, after overturning the classic against Manchester United (3-1) with a brace from Foden. He Wonderful baby he did it again.

Arsenal beat Luton Town to take the lead

At the Emirates Stadium, Mikel Arteta’s team won 2-0 with goals from the Norwegian Martin Odegaard, in the 24th minute of the first half, and the Japanese Daiki Hashioka against his own goal, at 44. In this way the Gunners have 68 points and are top of the Premier League with a point ahead of Liverpool – who host Sheffield United on Thursday – and Manchester City.