Manchester City survived a major scare on Saturday as Phil Foden struck a stoppage-time winner to seal a dramatic 3–2 victory over relegation-battling Leeds United at the Etihad Stadium.
City, who had suffered back-to-back defeats to Newcastle and Bayer Leverkusen, looked set for another setback after surrendering a two-goal lead in the second half. The win lifted Pep Guardiola’s side to second place in the Premier League, four points behind leaders Arsenal.
Foden opened the scoring inside the first minute, smashing in from close range after Matheus Nunes carved open the Leeds defence. Josko Gvardiol doubled the advantage in the 25th minute with a simple finish following Nico O’Reilly’s headed pass, a goal upheld after a brief VAR review.
But Leeds fought back impressively after the break. Substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin capitalised on a poor back-pass from Nunes to pull one back in the 49th minute. The visitors then levelled in the 68th minute when Lukas Nmecha followed up to score from his own saved penalty after Gvardiol fouled Calvert-Lewin.
Erling Haaland, chasing his 100th Premier League goal, endured a quiet afternoon, but City’s blushes were spared deep into stoppage time. Foden, showing composure and quick footwork, created space in the box before drilling home the winner as Guardiola exhaled in relief.
The result deepened the woes of Leeds manager Daniel Farke, whose side have now lost six of their last seven matches and remain in the bottom three.
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In other Premier League fixtures, Brentford’s Igor Thiago extended his scoring run with a brace in a 3–1 win over Burnley. After scoring from the spot and watching Zian Flemming equalise from a penalty at the other end, Thiago immediately restored the Bees’ lead with a powerful strike before Dango Ouattara sealed victory in stoppage time.
At the Stadium of Light, Sunderland staged a stunning comeback to beat Bournemouth 3–2. After falling two goals behind through strikes from Amine Adli and Tyler Adams, the hosts responded through Enzo Le Fée’s penalty, Bertrand Traoré’s composed finish, and Brian Brobbey’s winning header in the 69th minute. The victory moved the newly promoted side to fourth on the table.
Later fixtures saw Everton host Newcastle and Tottenham welcome Fulham.