Foden’s red card in the Manchester derby carried a three-match ban across the Premier League, EFL Cup and FA Cup. Two are already gone: a 5-0 Carabao Cup win over Norwich City on 17 September and a chaotic 5-3 Premier League victory over Sunderland at the Etihad three days later.
City are top of the table on a perfect start, three points clear of Arsenal after the Gunners lost to Brighton. One fixture is left on the suspension list.
That fixture is at Anfield.
The one match that matters
Foden will miss the trip to Liverpool on 11 October. He is then eligible again for the Champions League tie with Paris Saint-Germain on 14 October, since European suspensions run separately, and for the Premier League return home to Ipswich Town on 17 October.
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Anfield is the game the suspension actually bites into. Sunderland at home and Norwich in the League Cup were fixtures City were expected to win with or without their No. 47. A trip to Liverpool without their most creative midfielder is a different test.
How Oliver called the red card
The ban was set in the 23rd minute of the derby at Old Trafford on 13 September. After a hard challenge from Bruno Fernandes, Foden lashed out at the Portugal captain, and referee Michael Oliver spoke into his microphone.
“Red card Phil Foden. Kick out into the body of Bruno.”
VAR backed the on-field call.
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“That looks like a clear red card to me. Looks to be a secondary movement. Confirming the red card for Manchester City No. 47.”
It was the first red card shown in a Manchester derby in 20 years, and the second of Foden’s career. City still won 1-0, an Erling Haaland strike from the hour mark deciding it.
Maresca on winning less ugly
Maresca has offered few concessions to Foden’s absence.
“A very good team, strong, dangerous, but again, we found a way to win the game,” he told Sky Sports after the Sunderland game.
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“I prefer to win 1-0, it’s much better!”
The 5-3 was less a story about the Foden gap than about Brian Brobbey and a Sunderland side that scored three times and would not stop pushing. Enzo Fernández, Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo (twice) and Haaland got the City goals. Norwich were dispatched more cleanly a few days earlier, with debutant teenager Floyd Samba scoring twice on his first appearance.
Foden is due back in a Premier League squad for Ipswich’s visit to the Etihad on 17 October.
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