{"id":365206,"date":"2025-08-22T17:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T17:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/365206\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T17:46:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T17:46:13","slug":"rodri-and-phil-foden-man-city-update-as-liverpool-discover-premier-league-title-race-implication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/365206\/","title":{"rendered":"Rodri and Phil Foden Man City update as Liverpool discover Premier League title race implication"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pep Guardiola has provided an update on Rodri and Phil Foden, as Liverpool look to fend off competition from Manchester City in the Premier League title race\"PepPep Guardiola with Rodri and Phil Foden(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Liverpool’s title contenders Manchester City<\/a> are poised to welcome Rodri and Phil Foden back into the fold for Saturday’s clash with Tottenham. City got their Premier League<\/a> season off to a flying start with a 4-0 victory at Wolves last weekend. Erling Haaland netted twice, with Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki also getting on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n

Despite missing two key players, Pep Guardiola’s team secured three vital points on the opening day. Rodri and Foden, both pivotal figures in City’s recent triumphs, were absent from the match at Molineux. Rodri was sidelined with a groin injury sustained at the Club World Cup in July<\/a> and wasn’t fit to play against Wolves<\/a>. The 29-year-old midfielder is just coming back from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) rupture that kept him out for most of last season.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, it seems Rodri is ready to make his comeback against Spurs. “I just want a consistent Rodri, that’s all,” Guardiola remarked during his pre-match press conference on Friday.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Newcastle United make transfer decision amid Alexander Isak Liverpool saga<\/a>READ MORE: Alexander Isak told mistake he made when issuing damming Newcastle statement amid Liverpool saga<\/a><\/p>\n

“I don’t have any doubts about his potential or quality. Still, so far, is the best player in the world. The consistency will come with training and games, training and games, week after week – and after that, everything will be fine.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Foden is anticipated to return to the City squad after sitting out the Wolves match due to an ankle issue. The England player shone at the Club World Cup, netting three goals and providing one assist in four games following a lacklustre domestic and European season.<\/p>\n

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“Rodri and Phil in the last game they were out but for just the reason why – a lack of training and rhythm and they didn’t travel to Palermo and the other guys were doing it all through pre-season,” Guardiola explained, discussing both Rodri and Foden’s fitness. “They were not [ready] for 90 minutes against Wolves but they were ready and of course they are ready for tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

The return of Rodri and Foden to City’s squad sends a clear message to the rest of the Premier League that they’re serious about this season. After finishing third – their lowest final position in nine years – in 2024\/25, City are keen to bounce back and put up a stronger challenge in the title race.<\/p>\n

With Liverpool<\/a> expected to be fighting for the title once again, Arne Slot will not want City to improve and close the gap at the top of the table compared to last season. However, the inclusion of Foden and Rodri will undoubtedly strengthen City, a daunting prospect, particularly after the drubbing at Wolves.<\/p>\n

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Sign up for one of the Liverpool Echo’s free daily and weekly newsletters on Liverpool FC<\/a> by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pep Guardiola has provided an update on Rodri and Phil Foden, as Liverpool look to fend off competition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[1121,748,393,4884,179,763,1036,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-365206","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-arne-slot","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-liverpool-fc","14":"tag-manchester-city-fc","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115073671858547654","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}