A goal in either half from David Silva saw Fulham go down to a 2-0 defeat at Manchester City on Saturday.

It was always going to be a tough ask for Fulham at the home of the current Barclays Premier League champions – and it looked like the Whites were in for a long afternoon when Silva put City in front inside the opening two minutes.

Steve Sidwell – back from injury – hit the outside of the post in the first half, but Fulham never really tested Joe Hart.

Silva made sure of the points for the home side when he clipped past Schwarzer on 69 minutes, with the City man and Sergio Aguero both squandering further chances to increase the Blues’ advantage on a frustrating afternoon for Martin Jol’s men.

Jol made six changes from the side that defeated Blackpool in the FA Cup with Budweiser Third Round Replay on Tuesday. In came Aaron Hughes, Kieran Richardson, Sidwell, Damien Duff, Bryan Ruiz and Dimitar Berbatov. Philippe Senderos, Chris Baird, Matthew Briggs, Alexander Kacaniklic, Mladen Petric and Hugo Rodallega dropped down to the bench.

The game was just over a minute old when City took the lead with the first attack of the afternoon. After collecting the ball from James Milner 30 yards from goal, Edin Dzeko’s shot from distance was parried away right-handed at full stretch by Schwarzer. It was a good save, but Silva got to the rebound ahead of Sidwell and slotted into the far corner to put the hosts in front.

Fulham then enjoyed decent spells of possession without ever really threatening and Dzeko could have inflicted more pain on the Whites in the 15th minute only for his header from 10 yards to fly straight at Schwarzer after the striker had met Gael Clichy’s cross from the left. Giorgos Karagounis went into the book on 23 minutes – somewhat harshly – for catching Silva.

The Whites almost grabbed an equaliser on the half-hour mark with their first real foray into the opposition penalty box. Duff’s cross from the right was met by Sidwell but the midfielder’s attempted header – under pressure from Pablo Zabaleta - came off his shoulder. It clipped the outside of the post, but Hart would probably have had it covered had it been on target.

With the half-time whistle imminent, Dzeko flashed a shot just wide of the near post after Carlos Tevez had got the better of Brede Hangeland down the right-hand side before pulling the ball back.

Sidwell shanked an effort wide in the opening minutes of the second half, but he made amends at the other end by getting back to make an important tackle on Tevez as the Argentine shaped to shoot. Richardson went into the book on 56 minutes for a foul on Milner.

The Whites were forced into their first change on 66 minutes, with the injured Richardson replaced by Briggs. Three minutes later, it was 2-0 to City. Clichy collected the ball on the far touchline and passed inside to Tevez who flicked it into the path of Silva. The City man still had a lot to do as he burst into the left-hand side of the box but he managed to clip the ball over Schwarzer and in off the far post.

Less than 60 seconds later, it should have been 3-0 to City as Silva squandered the chance of a hat-trick. After finding himself clean through on goal, he scuffed his shot and saw it roll agonisingly wide of the far post.

Jol made his second change of the afternoon on 72 minutes, with Ashkan Dejagah replaced by Petric in a move that saw Ruiz shift over to the left.

There could have been more pain for Fulham late on, but substitute Aguero mishit his shot after skipping round Schwarzer. With four minutes of time added on, Aguero saw an effort flash just wide of the far post and Dzeko then blazed over with the goal at his mercy before the final whistle brought proceedings to a close.