City hit Ipswich for six to equal Club record Premier League away win | OneFootball

Phil Foden made it five goals in his last three Premier League games with a brace as City put six past Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

The devastating attacking display was our joint-biggest away win in Premier League history, tying with a 6-0 defeat of Watford in 2017/18.

Foden backed up his strike against West Ham and double at Brentford with another two goals in this one to continue his excellent start to 2025.

He broke the deadlock from a few yards out midway through the first half before supplying Mateo Kovacic to make it two.

Our No.47 squeezed home his second before half-time to all but seal the three points in our first league trip to Portman Road since May 2001.

Jeremy Doku got in on the act early in the second half before, on the week of signing a bumper new contract, Erling Haaland made it five with just over half an hour remaining.

Substitute James McAtee completed the rout when he nodded in for his first ever Premier League goal for City.

After a difficult November and December, we have now gone five Premier League games without defeat and returned to the top four on goal difference.

What happened

Ahead of kick-off, Portman Road paid tribute to former City striker and Manchester football legend Denis Law, who passed away earlier this week aged 84 to cap a sad week after the deaths of Bobby Kennedy and Tony Book a few days prior. Our players also wore black armbands.

Once the game began, Ipswich were quick out of the traps and decisive interventions from returning men Ruben Dias and Ederson were required to deny an early goal.

As the game settled, we saw a familiar pattern in that City controlled much of the ball with our hosts looking to spring into life on the transition.

A lengthy period of City possession brought our first major chance of the afternoon in the 15th minute as we manoeuvred the Ipswich defence out of shape.

Mateo Kovacic found Erling Haaland on the run through the middle, but the Norwegian couldn't beat goalkeeper Christian Walton.

We followed it up with another opening just a minute later, but Kovacic's shot from the edge of the box cleared the crossbar.

City were in charge of general play, but the pace and power of Liam Delap in particular meant Ipswich always carried a threat.

The relegation threatened side came within inches of breaking the deadlock themselves on 24 minutes but Haaland got a vital deflection on Omari Hutchinson's powerful hit from 20 yards.

However, we finally made our dominance of the ball pay a few minutes later through Phil Foden.

The England international continued his return to goalscoring form by firing home from close range after excellent linkup play down the left from Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne.

We were truly in our groove by that point and would double our advantage shortly afterwards.

In a move of the quality we've been accustomed to during Guardiola's historic reign, Foden turned provider as he rolled the ball for Kovacic to step onto.

The Croatian made no mistake from 20 yards, hammering an unstoppable low strike into the bottom corner.

As we increased our stranglehold on the game, De Bruyne was the next to go close, letting fly from just inside the box but seeing his shot go over.

Foden had his second of the afternoon before the break, but the goal was all down to the work of De Bruyne.

After pouncing on a loose ball in midfield, he then sprinted onto Doku's pass into the box before taking a breath and finding Foden to force home from a few yards out.

Ipswich came out for the second half with renewed belief and forced Ederson into a diving save just three minutes after the restart, but it was brief moment of hope for the Tractor Boys.

Doku, a key part of our brilliant first half, went up the other end, cut inside from the left wing and curled a shot at the far post that deflected up and over the diving Walton and into the far corner.

It's rare City score four without Haaland getting on the scoresheet, but our No.9 was not to be denied.

Doku was presented the ball in a dangerous area and played in Haaland, who tucked it home at the first time of asking.

Having extended his City contract until 2034 just a few days earlier, it was a reminder if ever one was needed of what we can expect from the striker for a long time to come.

With the points secured and a busy upcoming schedule across domestic and continental fronts, Guardiola then made a raft of changes.

It didn't stop us slicing through our hosts though, with Kovacic dinking the ball over the backline for substitute James McAtee to nod home for his maiden Premier League goal for his boyhood club.

That's where the scoring ended on a memorable day that equals a club record in the Premier League era.

Teams

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes, Akanji (Lewis 72), Dias, Gvardiol, Kovacic (O'Reilly 72), Gundogan, De Bruyne (C) (McAtee 63), Foden (Grealish 63), Doku, Haaland (Mubama 63)

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Bernardo, Savinho, Alleyne

IPSWICH TOWN XI: Walton, Johnson, Godfrey (Tuanzebe 64), O’Shea, Burgess, Davis, Morsy (C), Cajuste (Luongo 64), Hutchinson (Taylor 73), J. Clarke (Jaden 64), Delap (Hirst 73)

Subs: Muric, Townsend, Burns, Broadhead

Pep Guardiola reaction

The boss' thoughts will follow shortly...

Man of the match

Phil Foden - After a sweep of domestic awards in 2023/24 and a run to the EURO 2024 final last summer, Foden's season didn't start how he envisaged.

However, our Academy graduate has really hit his stride in recent weeks with five goals in his last three Premier League appearances.

He was clinical in front of goal here, keeping a cool head to capitalise on two chances from just a few yards out.

His composure also told in how he chose to slide across for Kovacic, rather than fire through a crowd of bodies, for our second.

As Guardiola's side enjoy an upturn in form, Foden's return to the phenomenon we saw last term will give us plenty of confidence for the remaining months of the season.

What it means

We're now unbeaten in our last five Premier League games, winning four of those matches.

The comprehensive nature of the victory sees us move into fourth place on goal difference.

We now have 38 points from 22 matches.

What's next

City return to UEFA Champions League action on Wednesday night when we face Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital. Our seventh match in the league phase starts at 20:00 (UK).

Our next Premier League encounter sees Chelsea visit the Etihad Stadium next Saturday in a 17:30 (UK) kick-off.