Chelsea's Conor Gallagher piles on the praise for Manchester City star

Ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Chelsea star Conor Gallagher has praised his Three Lions’ teammate Phil Foden.

After a long and challenging 14 weeks, Manchester City entered the international break trailing current Premier League leaders Arsenal by five points, with both fixtures against the Gunners coming in the second-half of the season.

Their most recent game came against an in-form Brentford side, and proved to be yet another tricky fixture.

The Bees’ striker Ivan Toney came out swinging following his omission from Gareth Southgate's 26-man squad, putting his side on top of the defending Premier League champions just 16 minutes into the match.

As the first-half came to a close, Phil Foden struck an effort into the top corner and past the gloves of David Raya, to level the game at 1-1 at the interval.

Phil Foden celebrates after scoring against Brentford. Image: Alamy

However, following a Manchester City corner deep into the second-half, Yoane Wissa took the ball past the half-way line, gliding it across the pitch to Josh Dasilva, who found Ivan Toney in the perfect spot to slot home and give Thomas Frank’s side the precious three points.

This was just Manchester City's second loss of the ongoing season.

After their loss, 16 players from Pep Guardiola's first team squad jetted off with their respective national teams ahead of the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Ilkay Gundogan and Pep Guardiola, Manchester City.

Among those the selected few, Jack Grealish, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Kalvin Phillips, and Phil Foden joined up with their fellow England colleagues, who will be taking on the United States, Wales, and Iran in Group B of the tournament.

In the build-up to the competition, players from England team have been interviewed or made appearances for the global media, with Chelsea's Conor Gallagher featuring on JD Sports' 'Take The Crown'.

During his appearance, the Chelsea academy product was keen to praise Phil Foden, labelling the Manchester City man as the best player he had played with while growing up.

Discussing the Stockport-born forward, Gallagher focussed on both Foden's abilities as well as potential.

“He's a joke now," Gallagher began.

"Playing with him at England (youth level), he was special, what he could do with the ball."

He continued, "You knew he was going to be a top player. It was just easy (for him), it was very natural, and you just knew he was going to be world class."

Conor Gallagher and Phil Foden, as well as the rest of their Three Lions teammates, start their World Cup campaign on Monday 21 November at 13:00 BST, with a clash against Iran.