Phil Foden habit reveals what Man City must do this summer as Erling Haaland race looms

Manchester City's 1-0 win against Everton on Saturday might have been uncharacteristically laboured, but the source of their winning goal was an increasingly common one.

Phil Foden bagged a typical poacher's goal to secure a late win for Pep Guardiola's side, one that puts them six points clear at the top of the Premier League table having played a game more than closest chasers Liverpool.

Since establishing himself as a first-team regular last season, Foden has been one of City's stand-out performers. Deployed in a variety of roles including both wings, false nine and attacking midfielder, the 21-year-old has rarely put in a poor performance.

As highlighted by Guardiola last season, one area of Foden's game that needed a little improvement was his finishing ability. The England star is by no means the finished article yet - he should have done better with a strike he hit straight at Jordan Pickford and a header he sent over the crossbar - but his match-winner showed his reliability in front of goal is improving at an impressive rate.

Foden pounced on a double deflection from Bernardo Silva's cross to control the ball before stabbing beyond Pickford, a real poacher's goal that the best strikers in the game would be proud of.

The strike was Foden's tenth of the season in all competitions, a surprising seven of which have come away from home (six out of seven in the Premier League have come away from the Etihad Stadium too).

Foden has now scored in three consecutive away games, following efforts against Norwich and Sporting Lisbon which can also be described as typical striker's goals.

Against Norwich he pulled off a drag-back to get the ball under control before converting, while in Portugal he sat the goalkeeper down