A wild 3-2 victory over Leeds on Saturday was sealed by Foden's curling shot in the first minute of stoppage time, allowing City to jump to second and trim the gap to leaders Arsenal to four points.
The England playmaker had earlier scored after just 59 seconds — for what briefly was the fastest goal in the league this season — before Josko Gvardiol added a second for City in the 25th.
Leeds, languishing in the relegation zone, replied in the second half through Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha — a striker who came through City's academy — as City showed frailties exposed in defeats over the past week to Newcastle in the league and Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.
But Foden saved City answering the call of manager Pep Guardiola for others to share the scoring burden that has fallen almost entirely on Haaland this season.
The Norway striker has failed to score in three straight games for City — having netted in 17 of his previous 18 matches for club and country in what was the hottest streak of his career — and remains on 99 goals in the Premier League.
Reaching the 100-goal milestone against Leeds, where he was born in 2000, would have been poignant, but the wait goes on.
"He'll do it next game," said Guardiola, who had an animated discussion with Haaland on the field after the final whistle.
Arsenal can restore their seven-point cushion over City by winning on Sunday at Chelsea, who have dropped to third.
Foden was displaced as the scorer of the Premier League's earliest goal of the season just a couple of hours later when Newcastle defender Malick Thiaw glanced home a header at a corner after 55 seconds to set his team on their way to a 4-1 win at Everton.
The German centre back scored another after the break, adding to goals from Lewis Miley and Nick Woltemade, to make it 4-0. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored Everton's consolation.
Tottenham lost for a third time in seven days, this time to Fulham 2-1 after conceding two goals in the opening six minutes.
Fulham's second goal — by Harry Wilson — was a beauty. After Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario came out of his goal and made a weak clearance, Wilson received the ball out on the touchline and whipped a first-time finish into an empty net before Vicario could get back to stop it.
Mohammed Kudus pulled a goal back for Spurs with a dipping shot into the top corner, but there were jeers by home fans at the final whistle at the end of a week when Tottenham was beaten by fierce rivals Arsenal in the league and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Tottenham have slipped to 10th place.
Sunderland produced an even better fightback than Leeds, also coming from two goals down and going on to beat Bournemouth 3-2 at the Stadium of Light.
Brian Brobbey completed the comeback with the winner in the 69th for Sunderland, while Bournemouth's second goal was a remarkable shot from nearly 50 metre by US midfielder Tyler Adams.
While Haaland goes through a mini-drought, his nearest challenger in the Premier League scoring charts cannot stop hitting the back of the net.
Igor Thiago converted a penalty and added another goal for Brentford in a 3-1 win at home to Burnley.
The Brazilian striker moved onto nine goals for the campaign, five behind Haaland after 13 games.
