City win by ten against Fulham. A Kevin de Bruyne earned and converted by Erling Haaland in injury time penalty allows Manchester City to snatch a 2-1 win over Fulham with ten minutes to go to the top of the Premier League for at least 24 hours.
Compared with the 3-1 victory over Sevilla in the Champions League, there are eight changes to City’s starting line-up. Only Ilkay Gündogan, Jack Grealish and Julian Alvarez are out. Haaland, who has recovered, is only included in the reserves.
Carlos Vinicius replaces Aleksandar Mitrovic in the Cottagers’s attack. Harry Wilson replaces the injured Neeskens Kebano, Kenny Tete replaces the suspended Bobby Decordova-Reid.
The home side immediately start to apply pressure and create chances. Kevin de Bruyne has a particularly good chance in the ninth minute but his long-range shot is deflected away by visiting goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
And as early as the 17th minute, City open the scoring. Ilkay Gündogan passes forward to Alvarez, who enters the penalty area on the right-hand side of the box and takes a powerful shot which bounces off the crossbar to make it 1-0.
The Cityzens continue to dominate and, in the 25th minute, the ball flows into Leno’s net once more. It is John Stones who takes a shot on target after a save by Bernd, but he is caught offside.
And then there’s Fulham’s reply. Wilson goes down in the opposition box after Joao Cancelo pushes him with his body. The result is a red card for a last-gasp foul and a penalty which is clearly converted by Andreas Pereira – 1-1.
With the game unequal, not much changes in the game. After a brief stoppage time, the home side résumé their attack, although, of course, not in such large numbers.
But City’s second half starts so poorly that Guardiola hurries to bring on Haaland and also Phil Foden.
With Haaland’s arrival, the City’s attacking intensity returns and, in the 74th minute, Ehrling even hit the net with his header off de Bruyne’s cross, but VAR detects an offside position.
No matter how hard the home side triés in the closing stages, they are unable to score. The Cottagers are disciplined in defence and do not panic.
As time expired, De Bruyne covers the ball with his body and gets fouled by Anthony Robinson. Haaland comes up to the 11-metre mark and doesn’t miss, though Leno comes close to making it 2-1.
Cancello’s sending off certainly weakens City, but we can’t overlook how well Fulham defend, adapting as the match progresses. The Cottagers are really close to a draw, but City keep their hands in the air until the end and are rewarded for it.