Phil Foden hails his best England showing

Phil Foden believes his performance against Senegal was the forward’s best in an England shirt thus far and is relishing the chance to face France in the World Cup quarter-final.

Foden played a part in all three of the Three Lions’ goals against Senegal, directly providing the assists for Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka’s finishes.

At just 22, Foden is already hugely decorated at club level with Manchester City and is determined to replicate those impressive showings for England.

Foden said: “It was important to show everyone my game. I was always speaking about bringing on my club form to international level and I felt tonight was probably the best England game I've played. So I'm really happy.”

England endured a tough start against Senegal, as the reigning AFCON champions created the better openings.

But the exciting blend of young talent like Foden, Jude Bellingham and Saka combined with the more experienced heads such as Kane and Jordan Henderson to unlock the Senegal defence just before half-time.

Henderson and Kane’s goals prior to the interval were followed up by Saka’s third of the World Cup in the second half.

“We’re delighted with the result and we’re going to celebrate tonight,” Foden said.

“Senegal are a great team, I think that they would cause some big teams problems. They went man-to-man and were very, very physical but it's about keeping the ball moving and trying to work out where the space was. I came off the line more for the first goal, a little flick around the corner and our wingers started to get more into the game and have an influence.”

The 3-0 win means England now face an exciting quarter-final clash with reigning World Cup champions France, who booked their spot with a 3-1 win over Poland earlier in the night.

“It’s knockout football now so we're going to have to recover tomorrow and think about the next opponent, which is going to be really tough,” Foden said.

“They look like the strongest in the competition up to now. Everywhere you look, they've got talented players but we’ll back ourselves on the day and we're confident.”