{"id":1249168,"date":"2022-02-26T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T20:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1249168"},"modified":"2026-02-23T13:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T13:29:18","slug":"phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Foden keeps Man City in control of Premier League title race despite worst half of season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src='\/\/asset.fwpub1.com\/js\/storyblock.js'><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Manchester City put in what many would call a performance of champions as they beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday to stay in control of the Premier League title race.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Title-winning sides aren&#8217;t often defined by the 6-0 and 7-0 thrashings that they bring out against poor teams but by the victories when they themselves are struggling to perform. And that was exactly the case for Pep Guardiola&#8217;s side at Goodison Park.<\/p>\n<p>It was not a good performance for Man City and for 81 minutes of the game it looked as though the win would not come. In fact, the first half was Man City&#8217;s worst of the season so far.<\/p>\n<p>In the opening 45 minutes, Man City struggled to make the most of their 65% possession with just five shots and only two on target. But those shots weren&#8217;t truly testing.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/chelsea-vs-liverpool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chelsea vs Liverpool betting tips<\/a><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/go\/sky-bet?q=uk-all-con-bag-s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Chelsea 6+ Offsides @9\/4 with Sky Bet<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/go\/virgin-bet?q=uk-all-con-bag-s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Mohamed Salah to score first &amp; Liverpool 2-1 win in 90 mins @39\/1 with Virgin Bet<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!-- Bet365_Premier_League-1-English-728x90 --><script src=\"https:\/\/c.bannerflow.net\/a\/61bb78a1f2569aeeda6c2574?did=5cf6638e8e4e100001a17710&#038;deeplink=on&#038;responsive=on&#038;preload=off&#038;redirecturl=\" async><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>Odds correct at the time of writing. 18+ Only. Terms and Conditions Apply.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The Expected Goal tally for Man City in the first half was as low as 0.16 (compared to Everton&#8217;s 0.51), their worst in a single Premier League half this season.<\/p>\n<p>Their previous worst half was the second 45 minutes against Aston Villa at the start of December, when they recorded an xG of just 0.28 in a 2-1 victory. Man City&#8217;s previous worst xG in a Premier League first half was 0.32 in two separate games, first against Crystal Palace in October, a match they lost 2-0, and then vs Arsenal on New Year&#8217;s Day when their second-half performance helped them come from behind to win 2-1.<\/p>\n<p>And it was a second-half performance that mattered on Saturday. Man City recorded an xG of 1.91 in the second half at Goodison Park, their fifth-best return after half-time in the Premier League this season and, of course, they got that all important one goal.<\/p>\n<p>It did come through a bit of fortune as Bernardo Silva&#8217;s first was deflected twice into the path of Phil Foden, right in front of Jordan Pickford. But the Englishman still had to keep his cool to round his compatriot and put Man City 1-0 up.<\/p>\n\n<p>Man City have now scored 34 second-half goals in the Premier League this season at an average of 1.26 per game, with only Liverpool (1.38) averaging more. And Guardiola was thankful for a bit of good fortune.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The second half was much better for the consequences of the first half,&#8221; he told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Goodison Park for us is always so difficult. Good victory, another step. In general we controlled in the second half, not a lot because it was not possible but the second half much, much better.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the opponent decides the striker to mark the holding midfielder close to the 18-yard box it is difficult with the spaces. Everton make a moment. It is difficult, we knew it. I said to the guys at half time they are doing well and be patient and we will find the moment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We did everything to win. When you have that the manager will be alongside the players that is for sure. Have to try again and try again and in the end Phil was there and score.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were searching. We tried and we were there. We earned the good fortune. Everton has top players. Their quality is there, we knew it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Man City are now six points clear at the top of the Premier League table but second-placed Liverpool do have a game in hand over the league leaders &#8211; and there is that clash at the Etihad to come in April.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE OUTRIGHT ODDS:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/championship-winner-odds-21-22-outright\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Championship 2021\/22: Outright betting odds for Premier League promotion and League One demotion<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/premier-league-winner-odds-21-22\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Premier League Winner Odds 21\/22: Outright betting odds for the EPL title<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/fa-cup-outright-2021-2022-winner-odds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>FA Cup winner odds: Outright odds for the 2021\/22 season<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City put in what many would call a performance of champions as they beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday to stay in control of the Premier League title race. Title-winning sides aren&#8217;t often defined by the 6-0 and 7-0 thrashings that they bring out against poor teams but by the victories when they themselves are&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":1249231,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Man City news: Foden rescues Premier League leaders after worst half of season","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Phil Foden was the hero for Manchester City as they overcame their worst Premier League half of the season to beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"features-category":[],"squawka-category":[],"class_list":["post-1249168","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Man City news: Foden rescues Premier League leaders after worst half of season<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Phil Foden was the hero for Manchester City as they overcame their worst Premier League half of the season to beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phil Foden keeps Man City in control of Premier League title race despite worst half of season\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Phil Foden was the hero for Manchester City as they overcame their worst Premier League half of the season to beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Squawka | EN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-23T13:29:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@squawka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry Edwards\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4e62e4b7416dff4a81adf12d6340823d\"},\"headline\":\"Phil Foden keeps Man City in control of Premier League title race despite worst half of season\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-26T20:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-23T13:29:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/\"},\"wordCount\":669,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Features\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/\",\"name\":\"Man City news: Foden rescues Premier League leaders after worst half of season\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-26T20:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-23T13:29:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"Phil Foden was the hero for Manchester City as they overcame their worst Premier League half of the season to beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Squawka\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Features\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Phil Foden keeps Man City in control of Premier League title race despite worst half of season\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Squawka | EN\",\"description\":\"Football News, Stats, and More...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4e62e4b7416dff4a81adf12d6340823d\",\"name\":\"Harry Edwards\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0026fa9c4643646cbd6cb2bfceaaec1552223b05885c8c1ea9b98ffcc00c20f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0026fa9c4643646cbd6cb2bfceaaec1552223b05885c8c1ea9b98ffcc00c20f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Harry Edwards\"},\"description\":\"Harry Edwards has been writing for Squawka since 2017, producing match content, betting tips, news, features, quizzes and a lot more. He has additional focus on women's football, FPL and FIFA\/EAFC. Harry is a Chelsea fan and also has an interest in tennis and darts.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/harryedwards16\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/author\/harry-edwards\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Man City news: Foden rescues Premier League leaders after worst half of season","description":"Phil Foden was the hero for Manchester City as they overcame their worst Premier League half of the season to beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Phil Foden keeps Man City in control of Premier League title race despite worst half of season","og_description":"Phil Foden was the hero for Manchester City as they overcame their worst Premier League half of the season to beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/","og_site_name":"Squawka | EN","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/","article_modified_time":"2026-02-23T13:29:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@squawka","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/"},"author":{"name":"Harry Edwards","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4e62e4b7416dff4a81adf12d6340823d"},"headline":"Phil Foden keeps Man City in control of Premier League title race despite worst half of season","datePublished":"2022-02-26T20:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-23T13:29:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/"},"wordCount":669,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg","articleSection":["Features"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/","name":"Man City news: Foden rescues Premier League leaders after worst half of season","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg","datePublished":"2022-02-26T20:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-23T13:29:18+00:00","description":"Phil Foden was the hero for Manchester City as they overcame their worst Premier League half of the season to beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2022\/02\/26194255\/1249168_1249168_phil-foden-man-city-xg-everton.jpg","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/phil-foden-man-city-second-half-premier-league-everton\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Squawka","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Features","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Phil Foden keeps Man City in control of Premier League title race despite worst half of season"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/","name":"Squawka | EN","description":"Football News, Stats, and More...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4e62e4b7416dff4a81adf12d6340823d","name":"Harry Edwards","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0026fa9c4643646cbd6cb2bfceaaec1552223b05885c8c1ea9b98ffcc00c20f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e0026fa9c4643646cbd6cb2bfceaaec1552223b05885c8c1ea9b98ffcc00c20f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Harry Edwards"},"description":"Harry Edwards has been writing for Squawka since 2017, producing match content, betting tips, news, features, quizzes and a lot more. He has additional focus on women's football, FPL and FIFA\/EAFC. Harry is a Chelsea fan and also has an interest in tennis and darts.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/harryedwards16"],"url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/author\/harry-edwards\/"}]}},"yoast_title":"Man City news: Foden rescues Premier League leaders after worst half of season","yoast_description":"Phil Foden was the hero for Manchester City as they overcame their worst Premier League half of the season to beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday.","yoast_keyword":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features\/1249168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/features"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features\/1249168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1249231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1249168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1249168"},{"taxonomy":"features-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/features-category?post=1249168"},{"taxonomy":"squawka-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/squawka-category?post=1249168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}