Man City's Phil Foden only needed 15 minutes to tear through Newcastle's entire defence, Is the boy officially back ?

It took the Manchester City and England star less than 15 minutes to jink his way through the Newcastle defence to open the scoring in the Premier League's early kick-off at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday lunchtime.

Foden had Newcastle left-back Dan Burn on toast throughout the opening stages and scored his fourth goal in three games with a deflected effort past Nick Pope. He'd ghosted past two or three Magpies' defenders to get into the scoring position.

Before netting against Bournemouth a week ago – and then twice in midweek in the FA Cup win over Bristol City – Foden had been on the peripheries of Pep Guardiola's side. Well, he's most certainly back to his best and back in favour now. UK viewers can watch a replay of Foden's goal below:

How about that, Phil Foden? ✨

Individual excellence from the Manchester City star!

Superb control 👌 pic.twitter.com/YnWPxDzu79

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 4, 2023

Fans were quick to jump onto social media and declare that Foden is 'back'.

One City fan account said: "Phil Foden is completely mocking it at right-wing this afternoon. Ridiculous performance."

Another said: "I’ll say it again. Phil Foden is the closest thing we have to Messi we have right now. What a goal."

It was also revealed by stats Twitter account Opta Joe that, aged 22 years and 280 days, Foden (33 goals, 17 assists) became the youngest player to reach 50 Premier League goal involvements for City with the strike versus Newcastle.

Newcastle were just thankful to hold the scoreline at 1-0, given how Foden was running amok and the general dominance of Guardiola's side in the early stages at the Etihad.

Eddie Howe's side hardly fashioned a chance, other than a half openeing for Callum Wilson, as fans continued to purr over the rejuvenated Foden.

Phil Foden’s last 3 games:

⚽🅰️ vs. Bournemouth
⚽⚽ vs. Bristol City
⚽ vs. Newcastle

Back to his best. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/pquVmADHgL

— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) March 4, 2023

I’ll say it again. Phil Foden is the closest thing we have to Messi we have right now. What a goal

— 𝐄𝐑 (@ErlingRoIe) March 4, 2023

1 - At 22 years and 280 days, Phil Foden (33 goals, 17 assists) has become the youngest player to reach 50 Premier League goal involvements for Manchester City. Revived. pic.twitter.com/dc84VW26PV

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 4, 2023