Foden has spoken about his off-field struggles last season, as well as carrying an injury, which meant he was unable to showcase his best form.
But the 25-year-old is approaching close to what he is capable of, netting his 10th goal of the season in City’s hard-fought win at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Six of those strikes have come in his past five games, highlighting how he is hitting his stride as the season starts to ramp up and City chase down league leaders Arsenal.
Foden’s goal – a rasping a low effort into the bottom corner following fine work by team-mate Rayan Cherki – will have impressed the watching Tuchel at Selhurst Park.
Despite scoring, though, Foden lost possession 16 times against Palace, the most for his team alongside Matheus Nunes.
It was something boss Pep Guardiola noted after the game as he said Foden “lost a lot of balls and was in a rush”.
“He needs to stay calm and then change the gear in the right moment,” added the Spaniard. “Playing in the same gear, he is so accelerated.
“He is so young, he listens and saying that, he has been doing an incredibly terrific season.”
Foden agreed, telling BBC Match of the Day: “In the first half I gave a lot of balls away and I was trying to do too much with it. Against Palace, you need to relax and play extra passes.
“That is the standard I set myself and so does the manager. He knows there is more to come from me.”
Foden’s prowess from outside the area means he has scored eight league goals from such position since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, with only Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe (14) scoring more across Europe’s big five leagues during that period.
He has also now scored in four consecutive Premier Leagues matches for the second time in his career.
“He is in outstanding form,” said ex-England goalkeeper and Match of the Day pundit Joe Hart. “You can tell he’s in unreal flow right now.
“City have been clever in how they get Foden on the edge of the box, arriving in the right place at the right time.”
