Foden's Dramatic Late Strike Rescues Manchester City in Victory Against Leeds

Phil Foden came to Manchester City's rescue with a dramatic late winner, preventing embarrassment for the Premier League title contenders who squandered a two-goal advantage in a thrilling 3-2 triumph over struggling Leeds on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola's team risked falling further behind in the championship contest after a collapse in the second half at the Etihad Stadium.

Foden and Josko Gvardiol had given City a two-goal lead before the break, yet Leeds, sitting third from the bottom, responded with goals from Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha.

Foden secured a tense win that propelled City to second position, trailing leaders Arsenal by four points, with Arsenal set to face third-placed Chelsea on Sunday.

This victory was crucial following back-to-back losses to Newcastle last weekend and Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.

Guardiola's choice to rotate 10 players against Leverkusen resulted in a 2-0 defeat, leading the angry Spaniard to accuse his squad of lacking effort.

Foden, Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, and Gianluigi Donnarumma were among the key players returning to City's starting lineup for the encounter with Leeds.

City had endured their poorest opening to a season in five years and their second-worst performance under Guardiola's management.

However, they surged ahead after just 59 seconds when Foden smashed a close-range shot off the crossbar and in, following Matheus Nunes' incisive run that disrupted Leeds' backline.

Leeds struggled to cope with City's fluent early play, and Gvardiol appeared to seal total dominance with a simple tap-in from Nico O'Reilly's header in the 25th minute.

Even with Leeds arguing that Silva was offside and obstructing goalkeeper Lucas Perri's line of sight, the goal stood following a VAR review.

Calvert-Lewin wasted no time upon entering as a substitute, halving the deficit with a sharp finish after capitalising on Nunes' poor pass in the City box in the 49th minute.

Leeds stunned everyone by levelling in the 68th minute when Gvardiol tripped Calvert-Lewin.

Though Nmecha's penalty was parried by Donnarumma, the attacker followed up to net the rebound.

In pursuit of his 100th league goal, Haaland was unusually quiet, but Foden stepped up in added time, skilfully creating space in the penalty area for a composed finish, allowing Guardiola to exhale in relief.

Leeds' sixth loss in their past seven outings heightened scrutiny on manager Daniel Farke.

Brentford forward Igor Thiago hit 11 league goals this term, his brace powering a 3-1 success over Burnley in west London.

Dango Ouattara was brought down by Axel Tuanzebe in the 81st minute, and Thiago converted the penalty for his eighth strike in eight matches.

Second-from-bottom Burnley earned their own spot-kick four minutes later after Michael Kayode fouled Jaidon Anthony, with Zian Flemming slotting home to equalise.

Thiago netted again just 60 seconds on, blasting in from Jordan Henderson's delivery, and Ouattara's powerful shot sealed the win in stoppage time.

Sunderland rose to fourth after rallying from two goals down to defeat Bournemouth 3-2 at the Stadium of Light.

The Cherries struck first after seven minutes when Evanilson's effort struck the post and Amine Adli finished the rebound.

Tyler Adams made it two for Bournemouth eight minutes later with a brilliant chip over Sunderland keeper Robin Roefs from near the halfway line.

Sunderland, who earned promotion from the Championship last year, battled on, and Alex Scott's challenge on Reinildo Mandava yielded a penalty that Enzo Le Fee buried in the 30th minute.

Bertrand Traore levelled for Sunderland in the 46th minute with a calm strike from Granit Xhaka's through ball.

Brian Brobbey finished Sunderland's impressive comeback, nodding in Le Fee's cross in the 69th minute.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Newcastle head to Everton while Tottenham welcome Fulham.