Pep Guardiola might have hinted at a new first-choice Man City player after hidden West Ham role

Phil Foden's 'incredible' training performance left Pep Guardiola with no option but to start the winger for Manchester City's win over West Ham, which is hardly surprising to anyone who's seen him kick a football in recent seasons. What is more surprising is that he replaced Riyad Mahrez on the right, rather than Jack Grealish on the left.

This was Foden's first start on the right wing since the opening day of last season, and only his eighth game on the right out of 169 City appearances. The Blues are lighter in that position this year after Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus left, but Foden had made the left-wing his own over the last 12 months and was widely expected to continue there this season.

Not if Jack Grealish has anything to say about it, though, and it was telling that Guardiola singled Grealish out for unprompted praise after the West Ham win as the £100million signing took his good pre-season form into the Premier League.

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The action that saw Guardiola praise Grealish was the fine move that saw Kevin De Bruyne split the West Ham defence and free Erling Haaland for his clinical second goal. City had been under pressure from West Ham, with the Blues regaining possession from a Hammers attack but had been forced back to Ederson.

The goalkeeper calmly passed to Nathan Ake in his own area, under pressure, who found Grealish coming back midway into his own half on the touchline. Grealish, pressed by Vladimir Coufal, was pushed back towards his own goal, with two more West Ham players closing in and he ended up on the corner of his own box by the time he was able to play inside to Rodri after Joao Cancelo had made a run to drag