Alex Iwobi has suggested that Manchester City star Phil Foden was fortunate to avoid a red card for his challenge on Calvin Bassey during Fulham's 3-0 loss to Manchester City in a Premier League encounter at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, February 11.

The Nigeria international questioned referee Paul Tierney's decision not to dismiss Foden, arguing that the incident could have provided his side with a crucial advantage in the second half. 

In the 66th minute, Foden was aware that Bassey had accelerated away and initially attempted to pull him back. 

When that failed to halt the defender's progress, the Manchester City attacker lunged into a forceful challenge on Bassey’s ankle, leaving the centre-back writhing in pain.

Paul Tierney opted to show only a yellow card to the England international, a decision that left Fulham supporters stunned.

Iwobi insisted that the incident could have altered the course of the contest had a red card been shown to Foden.

"Calvin's challenge, big respect to Phil Foden, but ref, surely, what's going on there? I've heard and seen online that people are saying it should have been a red," Iwobi said on his podcast Alexander Yaa Digg.

"Don't get me wrong, Phil Foden, I like him, big baller, and obviously they'll say it's nice to have 11 men on the pitch, but when we needed an advantage, we needed an advantage.

"That challenge was a bit mad still, but it is what it is. The game is done. We can't dwell on it."

Goals from Antoine Semenyo, Nico O'Reilly and Erling Haaland in a devastating 15-minute spell during the first half effectively put the contest beyond the visitors' reach.

Iwobi described the match as another game of two halves and admitted Fulham struggled to impose themselves before the interval.

"It wasn't a successful Manchester trip, we had a 3–0 defeat. Once again, another game of two halves. Second half we did ourselves justice, we played well, but first half, we can all say we showed Man City a bit too much respect.

"We didn't press with enough aggressivity, including myself. Obviously, it's a team thing and I'm part of the team. We were a bit too passive in the first half.

"Looking at the stats, we had a few chances. When you are playing against world-class players, they take opportunities and we didn't take ours, especially in the first half, we didn't impose ourselves as we should.

"We can't dwell on that, we have a big game against Stoke in the FA Cup, another travel up north so I have to mentally prepare for that."

Ifeanyi Emmanuel