Manchester City breezed to a 3-0 win over Fulham on Saturday
Despite tipping young midfielder Phil Foden for a place in the England squad in his press conference on Friday, Pep Guardiola opted not to bring the 18-year-old off the bench against the Cottagers.
Although Foden was expected to feature regularly for City this season, he has only made one brief substitute appearance in the league so far this season. Speaking after the Fulham win, Guardiola admitted he feels “guilty” about not bringing him on in the game.
The City boss explained that he had intended to introduce the Stockport-born youngster to the action in the later stages of the game, but was forced to change his plans after Sergio Aguero picked up a slight ankle injury.
“I feel guilty,” Guardiola told reporters.
“He deserves to play. The problem was the injury to Sergio Aguero, we didn’t want to take a risk it.”
Despite this, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager stressed that with so many games coming up for his squad, Foden will get plenty of chances to play for the first team.
“Phil Foden will play a lot of games this season – I feel it. The guys after the game were so tired, we have games, games, games, he’s going to play. I like him a lot. Every time he plays, he plays so good. He will play minutes.”
The Premier League champions are unbeaten in their opening five games of the new season, only dropping points in the 1-1 draw away at Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this month.
City will now turn their attention to the Champions League, where they play their first game of the season at home to Lyon on Wednesday night.
