Man City 2-1 Fulham

There was late heartbreak at the Etihad for Fulham after a performance to be proud of. Julian Alvarez's early goal was cancelled out by Andreas' penalty as João Cancelo saw red, before Erling Haaland slotted in a penalty of his own at the death the give City all three points.

After a stalemate 0-0 draw against Everton last time out, Marco Silva made two enforced changes to his team to take on City. Bobby De Cordova-Reid received his fifth yellow and so took a game out to be replaced by the returning Kenny Tete, whilst Carlos Vinicius came in up top in place of Aleksandar Mitrović, who picked up a knock in his last outing.

The hosts made a lively start and gave Bernd Leno something to think about in the third minute. After some firm pressure and silky passes the ball fell to Bernardo Silva, who did well to get a shot off on the swivel. Our German shot shopper was typically alert though to acrobatically claw it away.

Five minutes later and there was more danger. After drifting into space on the edge of the box, Kevin De Bruyne showed his quality to receive the ball beautifully, before unleashing a shot with venom from range. Leno was there again to make a top-class save.

City’s early dominance paid off just after the quarter-of-an-hour mark, ending with Alvarez finding the back of the net. Ilkay Gundogan was the craftsman, slotting an inch-perfect ball through the Fulham back line, and Alvarez did well to smash it off the bar and in.

John Stones thought he’d added a second after 24 minutes, but to Fulham’s relief the flag was raised. A De Bruyne set piece caused issues that had to be dealt with again by Leno, and on the follow up, an offside Stones poked home from a yard out.

From potentially 2-0 down to 1-1, Fulham turned the game on its’ head in a flash. Harry Wilson raced through into the box and was clumsily bundled over by João Cancelo, and a penalty was awarded. Furthermore, the Portuguese defender was awarded a red for being the last man. Andreas then showed heaps of bottle to place the penalty home, and Fulham were well and truly back in the contest.

Jack Grealish had a pop at goal just before the interval, taking it down nicely before cutting in from the left and trying to bend one into the opposite corner, but it was comfortably wide in the end.

There was an even feel to the start of the second period, with both teams defending resiliently to prevent anyone taking hold of the game. After a neatly flicked header to himself, Alvarez sprinted down the right flank, but Issa Diop typified the fighting Fulham spirit with a superb sliding challenge to prevent any kind of shot on goal.

Just after the hour ticked by, Fulham had a decent chance to go into the lead. Harrison Reed, who was putting in yet another mammoth shift in the centre of the park, clipped it over the top to the speedy Wilson who did well to take the ball under control and then get a shot off, but it was only curling wide in the end.

After being introduced a few minutes prior, Haaland thought he had been the hero yet again after 74 minutes. De Bruyne swept a ball across goal, and the Norwegian bagsman soared through the air to head in from close range. However, after VAR checks, he was adjudged to have been narrowly offside, and the score remained level in a thoroughly dramatic match.

With only a few moments of the battle remaining, there was a special moment, as Luke Harris replaced Andreas to compliment the array of subs already deployed by Silva and his staff.

With seconds remaining, City won a penalty after De Bruyne was apparently tripped, and Haaland got his goal from the spot to give Fulham late heartbreak.

It ended with a narrow victory to the Sky Blues, in a thoroughly competitve performance Fulham can be proud of.

We see out our final game before the World Cup next Sunday evening against Manchester United at the Cottage.