After a 2024/25 that can only be described as a write-off, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers who fancied Phil Foden‘s (£8.6m) form to improve at the start of this season were sorely disappointed.

The England midfielder played only 15 minutes in the opening three Gameweeks, and then a 12-point return in Gameweek 4 appeared to be a false dawn.

Between Gameweeks 5 and 12, despite starting every fixture, Foden mustered a single assist and no goals for an average return of 2.5 points per match. He was quite simply a no-go area.

But in Gameweek 13, all that changed. Two goals against Leeds United, two more against Fulham in the following match and, in Gameweek 15, he scored and assisted against Sunderland to complete a third successive double-digit return.

Top points scorers Gameweeks 13-15

GAMEWEEKS 1-11 v GAMEWEEKS 12-15

The signs had begun to look positive a week before Foden’s purple patch started. In the defeat to Newcastle United, Foden should have scored with a 41st-minute effort from 15 yards. That, incredibly, was his first Opta-defined ‘big chance’ of the season.

But from that game onwards, a huge improvement.

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