Phil Foden insists he is far from his best despite Champions League hat-trick

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Phil Foden maintains he is still some distance from his best level despite an impressive return to goalscoring form.

The player followed his weekend strike against Ipswich with a hat-trick as Manchester City comfortably beat AEK Athens 5-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Those goals were his first since December, completing a strong return to the team after serving a suspension for his red card in last month’s Manchester derby.

It follows a difficult two-year period for Foden involving struggles with form and fitness, which ultimately led to him missing out on England’s World Cup squad.

“Obviously I’m delighted to score goals now,” the 26-year-old told TNT Sports. “It can only do good for the confidence.

“I’ve still got a long way to go but I’m going in the right direction and scoring along the way definitely helps. I just want to keep working hard and trying to do my best for the manager and for the team.”

After a turbulent few weeks following the club’s damning guilty verdict, which saw intense environments for matches against Liverpool, Paris St Germain and Ipswich, this was a noticeably calmer affair.

City’s off-field issues will remain a distraction until settled, but the squad show little sign of being disrupted.

With eight changes from the weekend, City comfortably dispatched the Greek champions at the Etihad Stadium, steering their Champions League campaign back on course following defeat to PSG.

Elliot Anderson began the scoring with his first goal for the club, before Foden netted his first of the night and set up a fine effort for Rayan Cherki. Having started on the right, Foden moved to false nine and registered two late goals.

Club top scorer Erling Haaland was left on the bench throughout while managing a sore foot.

Foden said: “We spoke about bouncing back from PSG because the games can pass you by quickly and you can end up in a difficult situation. It’s important to keep putting points on the board and we’ve done that.

“The lads were great again. We showed determination again. There were spells where they were on top and I think they started the second half really well.

“We had to try and get back into the game and start playing our football. I think we just got better and better towards the end of the game and the talent shone through in the end.”

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