Incredible stat for Phil Foden goal vs Nottingham Forest sums up Man City under Pep Guardiola

Phil Foden’s opening goal in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest saw 46 consecutive passes put together in what was almost a new Premier League record.

Foden found the net inside seven minutes to chalk up his first strike of the season but the real glory goes to the team as a whole with nearly all of the 11 players touching the ball during the build-up.

Only Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez did not get a touch before the ball hit the net during the two-minute-16-second phase of play. It is the second-highest number of uninterrupted passes since such Premier League stats were first recorded during the 2006/07 season.

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Nacer Chadli’s goal for Tottenham against Queens Park Rangers in August 2014 is the only effort that trumps Foden’s goal by two passes. Prior to Rodri’s red card early in the second period, City ended the first 45 minutes with 77 per cent possession with a pass accuracy of 85 per cent from 441 passes.

It’s not the first time City have tallied such a sequence of passes under Pep Guardiola. A total of 44 passes were combined prior to Ilkay Gundogan’s goal against Manchester United in 2018 with 26 being tallied in the lead-up to Bernardo Silva’s opener against United in November 2021.

In April, City put together an undisrupted 66 passes that led to a Jack Grealish shot against Liverpool. As well as their flair, Guardiola’s City sides often smother opposition with possession and attrition.

The Blues have very rarely ended a match with the least possession of the two teams, with their total of 36 per cent against Arsenal in February’s 3-1 win Guardiola’s lowest return in 800 matches.