Kevin De Bruyne tells Pep Guardiola how to get him and Phil Foden in the same Man City team

Pep Guardiola has been told by Kevin De Bruyne how the Belgian and Phil Foden can feature together in the same Manchester City team in a mouth-watering thought.

De Bruyne scored twice for City in their lunchtime 4-2 victory on the road against Crystal Palace today to keep the pressure on leaders Liverpool.

However, Guardiola's side did not have things all their own way as Jean-Philippe Mateta put Palace in front at Selhurst Park after just three minutes, only for De Bruyne to equalise 10 minutes later.

The encounter went in level at the break, only for Rico Lewis to put City ahead early in the second half.

Erling Haaland netted City's third goal before De Bruyne scored his second of the encounter shortly afterwards to put the result beyond doubt.

Odsonne Edouard came off the bench to net what proved to be a consolation for hosts Palace and add some more respectability to the scoreline.

The result puts City level on points with leaders Liverpool, with Guardiola's men having played a game more than Anfield outfit.

Jurgen Klopp's side travel to Old Trafford tomorrow afternoon to take on Manchester United, and City fans will be in the strange position of wanting their fierce rivals to take points off Liverpool in order to help their Premier League title chances.

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Guardiola has quite the embarrassment of riches with the talent he has at his disposal in his squad.

And in the win over Palace, it says something that Foden ended up being an unused substitute in the end, which is truly remarkable given how key he could be for England this summer in Euro 2024.

City's midfield often lines up with Rodri anchoring in front of the defence, leaving the space for two more central midfielders in front of him to support Haaland.

Against Palace, De Bruyne lined up alongside Julian Alvarez in an advanced central midfield position, but he does not see why he could not do the same with Foden.

And he looked back to his earlier days at City when he featured often alongside the great David Silva as a reason why it could indeed happen more often and play centrally with Foden more frequently.

Speaking to TNT Sports, he said: "I think it's possible. When I started at 17 or 18, or even 16 or 17, with David (Silva) I think nobody thought it was possible, but we managed it in a way.

"I think David was a little bit the older player and I was more of the runner, and maybe, it's going to be a little bit vice-versa (with Foden).

"But I don't see why not. I don't think we've done it that much, but if I can do it with Julian, who is maybe more of a typical striker, I guess I could do it also with Phil."

Topics: Crystal Palace, Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, Phil Foden, Football

John McDougall