Man City boss Guardiola distances Foden from Silva replacement talk

Pep Guardiola insisted Manchester City always have to give their all after bouncing back to winning ways by beating Watford.

After being knocked out of the FA Cup at the semi-final stage in their last game, City returned to Premier League action in fine fashion.

Goals from Phil Foden and Aymeric Laporte followed up a first-half Raheem Sterling brace to give them a 4-0 win over their relegation-threatened opponents.

After the game, Guardiola revealed that their pre-match focus was intensely on themselves, not their opponents.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “A different competition, reality and opponent. But we did it today.

“We were so focused on ourselves so we didn’t speak much about Watford. We can win or we can lose, it is part of the game.

“In your career as a football player you can lose more games than you win. But always we must finish the game, go into the locker room and say ‘yes, I did everything to win the game’. When this happens we can be proud of ourselves.”

Despite his pride at the result, Guardiola will still be disappointed at falling short in the title race this year. And that’s why he said two-goal hero Sterling would not be happy with how the season has gone, despite his brace increasing his outside chances of winning the golden boot.

“He is quality,” Guardiola said of the England winger. “But the personal achievements are always related to how we have done in the Premier League.

“We finished far behind the champions so that is why Raheem must not be happy for the season we have done in the Premier League.”

GUARDIOLA PRAISES FODEN FORM

Guardiola was also pleased to see Foden continue his fine run of form. The youngster hadn’t scored for five games, after getting four in his last four before that, but returned to the scoresheet with City’s third goal.

Foden has been tipped to succeed David Silva in the City midfield, but his manager thinks he should be appreciated without living under his teammate’s shadow.

“They play together,” the City boss insisted. “He has no need to replace anyone as he is a players of ours.

“Phil is a reality of our club and team and he is a player who can play alongside David Silva. Tomorrow and beyond he will be here and it will depend on his performances as to whether he has more minutes or less.”