Manchester City returned to winning ways in the Premier League after two successive draws, as they earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Fulham.
After the comfortable midweek victory over Slovan Bratislava, Pep Guardiola reverted to a similar side that started last week at St James’ Park, with the only change seeing Phil Foden replace Kyle Walker.
Starting for the first time in the league this season, City’s no.47 was bright in the early exchanges and twice teed up Erling Haaland for shooting chances, one of which flashed narrowly wide.
The hosts also went close with an Ilkay Gundogan effort that was fired off target, while the German headed wide in the 25th minute from a delicious Bernardo Silva cross.
But when the first goal came, it was Fulham who grabbed it. Andreas Pereira capitalised on some lax City, defending as the ex-Manchester United midfielder easily slipped away from Manuel Akanji and poked the ball past Ederson. That goal continued City’s unwanted record of trailing in every home league game this season, a pattern Guardiola will hope to address.
It could have been more had Adama Traoare been more clinical, but twice he failed to convert from dangerous Fulham breakaways.
Marco Silva’s side came to regret those missed opportunities as City equalised just six minutes after Pereira’s opener. Mateo Kovacic latched onto a cleared header from a corner and lashed a shot on target, which, thanks to a big deflection off Joachim Anderen, squeezed past Bernd Leno in the away goal.
It was how the scoreline stood at the break, despite Josko Gvardiol and Bernadro Silva going close in the latter stages of the first half.
It took less than two minutes after the interval for City to take the lead, with Kovacic again providing the crucial strike and netted a first brace of his distinguished career. If his first goal was owed in part to large slice of luck, the second was finished sublimely as he controlled Silva’s pass with his left and passed the ball into the back of the net with his right.
The second period was a tighter affair than the first, with Foden’s shot over the only chance until the later stages. Again, City’s players were indebted to their keeper as Ederson denied Traore from another rapid Fulham counter, with the Spaniard breezing past Walker but shooting right at the City keeper.
Just as the nerves were beginning to creep up inside the Etihad, Jeremy Doku looked to have settled the game with eight minutes remaining. The Belgian forward latched onto a long ball upfield, cut inside and unleashed a powerful effort that whizzed past Leno.
But Fulham ensued it wasn’t the comfortable finish City had hoped for when Rodrigo Muniz managed to evade John Stones in the penalty area and fired past Ederson. It was the last chance in an entertaining game, as the champions held onto a hard-fought 3-2 win that brings the team’s unbeaten run in the league to 30 games, equalling a club record.
Here’s how we rated the City players…
1. Ederson- 7.5
Made two important saves to deny Traore also also flew out to make him snatch at a third good chance.
2. Rico Lewis- 7
Started at right-back and pushed into midfield. Lewis was excellent in possession and provided an attacking threat with some well-timed runs in behind and excellent passes. But he was outmuscled by Traore in what was almost a disastrous error in the first half.
3. Manuel Akanji- 6 (off 62)
Played well for most of the game and made some good defensive contributions, including an important tackle on Traore. But he was at fault for Fulham's goal when he lost his man a few yards out form goal.
4. Ruben Dias- 7.5
Enjoyed the physical duels against Raul Jimenez - and it was a battle he largely won. As usual, Dias was a commanding presence at the back and made a number of important clearances.