Man City might already be seeing an impact from potential £67m January deal

It was a goal that had been recreated maybe hundreds of times on the pitches of the City Football Academy in recent years. Kevin De Bruyne's magical right foot whips in a cross for Phil Foden that only needs guiding into the back of the net.

It gave Manchester City the lead at Brentford, another signal that some of their key attacking players are threatening a return to form. Defensive deficiencies cost them at the Gtech Community Stadium but going forward, the Blues looked good.

Savinho was on the end of one of those Pep Guardiola coaching clinics at full-time, but the Brazilian is improving and was only denied an excellent goal by the post. Mark Flekken also denied him on a few occasions.

De Bruyne had most of his effective games for a while. His radar wasn't always perfect, but his assist for Foden was wonderful and he twice created good chances for Erling Haaland in the first half.

Then there is Foden. He's not alone in struggling to recapture his best form for City, but he was the outstanding player in the Premier League last season, and the drop-off in the first half of this campaign was stark. Pep Guardiola needed him to recapture some of that magic.

Recently, there have been signs his best level is returning. After his double at Brentford, he has scored four goals in his last five Premier League games. It was the first time since the final day of last season that he scored twice in a game.

Asked if he needed those goals to keep his own momentum going, he said: "Yeah. Personally yes. It’s three in the last two now. So, yeah, it gives you the confidence obviously, scoring today, for the next game. But I’d have preferred to get the three points in the situation that we're going through.

"I've been training with Kev