Phil Foden has hailed “frightening” Jeremy Doku and believes the Manchester City winger is “only going to keep getting better” working under Pep Guardiola.

Doku impressed and grabbed an assist on his return to the starting XI as City recorded a 4-1 victory over Aston Villa on Wednesday. The Belgian, who joined the treble winners from Rennes last summer, received a pass from Foden before putting the ball on a plate for Rodri to score their first against Villa.

After Jhon Duran equalised, Foden then took the game by the scruff of the neck to net a fantastic hat-trick, including a blockbuster third from just outside the box. It was a fantastic individual performance from Foden, but he instead reserved special praise for Doku after the match.

“He was very good,” said Foden. “I thought he was frightening – he’s so dangerous one versus one and helped us massively to beat the full-back. He’s a fantastic talent and he’s only going to keep on getting better working under Pep [Guardiola] as well. I’m delighted for him – he performed really well.”

Doku endured a bright start to his City career and notably scored once and provided four assists during a 6-1 rout over Bournemouth back in November.

Since then, the 21-year-old had seemingly gone off the boil and has been in and out of the City side in recent weeks after picking up a muscle problem.

However, Doku was back to his flying best against Villa and showed his immense potential with his pace, trickery and more importantly his end product, which has been criticised at times this season. Doku moved over to the right-hand side with Jack Grealish on the left and he caused Lucas Digne all kinds of problems.

 
 

Phil Foden has heaped praise on Jeremy Doku

Phil Foden has heaped praise on Jeremy Doku ( Image: Getty Images)

As for City, the victory saw them return to winning ways in the Premier League after drawing against Liverpool and Arsenal. “It’s out of our hands [the title race],” Foden added. “But we can keep putting the pressure on and you never know what could happen.

“We have to keep the belief up, take it game by game, try and win them all and see where it takes us. It’s like a final. You have to win every game and can’t afford to drop points now.

“Every single game is a final for us. There are so many games around the corner and we have to keep going and think about the next one.

“We’ve got a very, very talented squad – everywhere you look and players on the bench coming on can make the difference. We’re going to need the full squad, give it our all and try our best.

“We have to keep fighting until the end.”