Pep Guardiola refused to discuss an angry bust-up between Kyle Walker and Brentford’s Neal Maupay after Manchester City’s 3-1 win in west London.
The England defender blew his top at something Maupay said to him in the closing stages and had to be calmed down by his manager.
City skipper Walker had been subjected to taunts about his personal life from the home fans throughout the match.
Guardiola had a long conversation with French striker Maupay after the final whistle but when quizzed about the incident afterwards, Guardiola simply snapped: “Next question!”
Guardiola was happier talking about hat-trick hero Phil Foden after the victory in west London which, coupled with Arsenal’s win over Liverpool on Sunday, left City two points behind the Reds with a game in hand.
Brentford were the only team to beat City home and away last season, and the ‘three-peat’ looked on when Maupay fired them into the lead.
But Foden finally beat inspired Bees keeper Mark Flekken to haul City level before the interval.
The England midfielder headed them in front early in the second half from Kevin De Bruyne’s cross, and then completed a stylish treble to leave the visitors with their title destiny firmly in their own hands.
“I said weeks ago that Phil is having his most influence on the team,” said Guardiola.
“He’s reading the game really well, how he can play simple and be more aggressive.
“He always has the pleasure to score goals and the threat when he is close to the 18-yard box. He is an exceptional player. A short age, already more than 250 games for City. That means the influence since he arrived.
“He loves to play football and still when you see players in the street when you are a little boy he still has this sense of amateur culture. He loves to play and this season he has been so important for us.
“In terms of how he moves in small spaces. I’ve seen many really good players but the impact from Phil when he gets the ball there, he can score.
“The feeling that he can shoot or make an assist, it’s difficult to find this combination to move in the pockets and after be like a knife and be so aggressive and score goals.”
The Bees went ahead in the 21st minute with a goal straight out of the Brentford playbook.
Flekken actually claimed the assist, punting his goal kick towards Ivan Toney, who backed into Nathan Ake, easing the defender out of the flight path while letting the ball bounce past.
Maupay was left free to race clean through, coolly finishing past Ederson for his fifth goal since the turn of the year.
“We know we have a strength there with Ivan,” said boss Thomas Frank.
“We don’t do it all the time but against a team that is pressing it can be effective. Credit to Mark, Ivan and Neal, they worked it out themselves.
“It was an OK team we were facing, I must say! A good performance from us. We do a lot of things right.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Haaland has 'full trust' in Guardiola to halt Man City slump
Erling Haaland has "full trust" in the "best manager in the world", Pep Guardiola, to get Manchester City back on track against Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday.
Guardiola's side have lost four matches in a row across all competitions, which is the Spaniard's longest losing run in his entire managerial career.
The Citizens last lost more consecutively between March and April 2006 under Stuart Pearce (six – the fifth game of which was also against Tottenham).
But after putting pen to paper on a new two-year contract extension at the club earlier this week, Guardiola has his eyes firmly set on returning to winning ways on home soil.
And Haaland, who has scored 105 goals in 114 appearances under Guardiola at City, believes they can make up the gap to leaders Liverpool, who are five points ahead.
"When you look at what he's been doing for the club, he's not bad, is he? So he's got my full trust," Haaland told Sky Sports.
"And if he tells me something, I'd better do it because he knows the best in the end. Everyone knows that. So I'm sure he will find solutions now as well. I'm sure of that.
"[Guardiola] demands us to be at our best in every training session, in every game. And that's what we need to do. It hasn't been good enough, losing four games now, but let's try to win the next."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
