Phil Foden stood on the Goodison Park pitch in front of the Manchester City fans, and sent a clear message to his manager when he said he wants to keep playing in the number ten position.

"You know how much I like playing in the middle," Foden said with a smile. "Thanks to the manager, he keeps playing me there at the moment. Long may it continue because I enjoy it every time I play there."

However, Pep Guardiola was about to disappoint his young forward, with a revelation that Kevin De Bruyne could return this weekend for City after a long lay-off.

De Bruyne is back in training and, if fit, could feature against Sheffield United on Saturday. Presumably, he would walk back into his usual position of number ten, behind the striker, and take the position Foden is currently excelling in. There's an argument to play De Bruyne further back, next to Rodri, but that wouldn't necessarily get the best out of him, especially when Erling Haaland returns.

And when Haaland returns, Julian Alvarez is another option to play behind the striker. That will help City reduce the reliance on De Bruyne, but Foden will go from first choice in his favoured position to, arguably, third choice.

Guardiola was asked about his number ten options before and after the match, offering an interesting insight into what he wants from that position. Before the Everton win, he said: "He's [De Bruyne] so important for us, like Erling. There's two types of players, who maybe don't help you to play good, the level can be consistent, but these two guys help you to win games."

To suggest De Bruyne and Haaland don't 'help you to play good', is a surprising thing for him to say, although he could have been referring to others. He also spoke of Alvarez, saying: "He can play as a striker or behind the striker. His movement is really good. Without Kevin De Bruyne this season we decide to use him more, we have another guy not taking all of the responsibility with Erling.

"He always responds amazingly with his work rate. He works, intensive pressing, many things without the ball he's so clever. With the ball how he moves. Can be striker or maybe behind, is not easy to control him."

After the game, Guardiola again spoke of Alvarez, and also Foden, and the tactical changes required to wrestle control against Everton.

"We saw that the centre backs, Tarkowski, especially when playing five, they jam a lot. We wanted a little bit for Phil to drop the centre-back with him, and after runners with Matheus [Nunes] and Julian in that space. Phil can play in left as well and make that run. We play really good in the first half, after the goal we say we have to improve a little. After we score the second goal it was the same, we lost a little bit. We are not mature enough to know exactly what we have to do.

"In that type of game, [Everton] defending five, man to man, we have to make a lot of short passes. The people inside have to come close to Ederson, Rodri, to Nathan [Ake] and make incredible short passes. Mateo [Kovacic], Bernardo [Silva], Phil and Rodri and many have this quality to keep the ball in the position. After that, contact with the wingers and run."

Guardiola spoke of changing things at half time to ensure the midfield was more able to outnumber the Everton midfielders, noting that before the break, the ball was going 'more direct' to the wingers, rather than creating an overload before finding the wide players in space. As number ten, Foden is needed to help the two midfielders behind him, and there were a couple of hints in Guardiola's explanations that the midfield structure was not as he wanted at times against Everton.

If Guardiola's thoughts before the game mirror his thoughts afterwards, it suggests he still wants more all-round play from his number ten. While the tactical awareness is improving, maybe it isn't there yet for Foden. And maybe he won't get his wish when he says he wants to be playing centrally for longer this season. De Bruyne will come back, and Foden may have to find another role in the starting XI again.

That isn't to say Guardiola wasn't happy with Foden, though. After the magnificent first goal, Guardiola summed up the benefits of playing the youngster centrally. "But at the end, Phil Foden takes the ball and puts it in the net," he laughed, shrugging that Foden ripped up his intricate plans with a moment of individual brilliance. " The difference is that."

Guardiola also pushed Foden forward to receive some individual acclaim from the away supporters at full-time. Foden looked brilliant at Goodison Park, and City arguably wouldn't have won without him. He is that good, and playing that well in his favoured position.

So if he has to find a way to play in the same side as De Bruyne, potentially still playing centrally, it shouldn't be a problem, especially if he keeps producing game-changing performances like he did on Wednesday.