Pep Guardiola praised Phil Foden as an "exceptional" player after his hat trick helped Manchester City win 3-1 against Brentford in London. Guardiola said Foden is always reliable.

Initially, City faced a tough challenge from Brentford, with Neal Maupay scoring for the home team in the 21st minute. However, City's goalkeeper, Mark Flekken, made several important saves to keep them in the game.

Just before half-time, Foden scored to level the game for City. In the second half, he scored two more goals to complete his hat trick and secure the victory for City.

With this win, City closed the gap with league leaders Liverpool to just two points. They have played one less game than Liverpool.

"We needed it [Foden's performance] today," Guardiola told a news conference. "I think Phil is playing the most [influential] season for the team in terms of goals and assists. How he played simple, how he can be more aggressive. He has the pleasure of scoring goals and the threat when he's close to their box. Always, he is there.

"So he's an exceptional, exceptional player. He is [young] and already has more than 250 games for City; that shows the impact he has had since he arrived."

Foden's hat trick was the second that he has scored in the Premier League, his first coming against Manchester United on October 2, 2022.

"I don't know his limits," Guardiola said. "He will decide. For him, football is the most important thing in his life. Of course, aside from his family and kids, it is the most important thing.

"It depends on him, but he enjoys it a lot. He loves to play football. When you see players like him playing in the street when you are a little boy, you have this sense of amateurism [in the way he plays]."

This was the first time in over five months that Guardiola could put both Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland in the starting lineup. De Bruyne had been working on getting back to full fitness after having hamstring surgery.

Meanwhile, Haaland made his first league start since December 6 after healing from a foot injury. However, he didn't score in his comeback match.

"I cannot imagine one striker all around the world playing against Brentford surrounded by six players in the space of two, three metres distance, something like that. It's uncomfortable," Guardiola said.

"I cannot imagine that even the best, best strikers in the world could survive in there. But being there helps the players in the second position to be more involved and [creates] more chances to score a goal.

"So thanks to Erling being there, Julian [Alvarez] and Kevin and Phil have more spaces. Without him, it would be more difficult. So he helped us a lot today."

Brentford were the only team to beat City both home and away in the Premier League last season.

"They're so difficult [to play against]," Guardiola said. They're an incredible team. Set pieces, corners, free kicks, throw-ins—I'v never seen a team better than this one."

Towards the end of the match, there was an incident between City defender Kyle Walker and Brentford forward Maupay, which led to a short stoppage in play as the right-back spoke to referee Jarred Gillett.

Both Guardiola and Brenford boss Thomas Frank declined to elaborate on the incident when asked by reporters after the match.