Man City 5-1 Fulham

Fulham suffered a 5-1 defeat on Saturday at the hands of Manchester City.

Tim Ream got himself on the scoresheet to instantly get us level after Julián Álvarez's opener, but a questionable Nathan Ake goal and an Erling Haaland hat-trick put the game out of reach.

Marco opted for four changes following our dramatic Carabao Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday. Bernd Leno regained his place in goal, with Andreas Pereira, Harry Wilson and Raúl Jiménez the preferred options further up the pitch.

After serving his one-game suspension on Tuesday, Calvin Bassey was an option on the substitutes bench and was joined by recent signing Timothy Castagne.

As is often the case at the Etihad, it was the hosts who were enjoying the majority of the ball early on but we looked threatening going forward.

Bobby De Cordova-Reid found himself in space down the left and delivered a decent looking ball towards Raúl at the back post. A City man did well to get a touch on it before it could reach the Mexican.

We were soon forced into an early substitution, with young Luke Harris coming on for the injured Tom Cairney just 15 minutes in.

City threatened on 25 minutes, when Foden latched onto a superb Rodri ball over the top before firing across our six-yard area. Erling Haaland was lurking but couldn’t meet it.

Then, just a couple of minutes later, Foden was involved again for the home side. After playing a neat one-two with Manuel Akanji, the youngster’s square pass in a crowded area was cut out.

Their pressure soon paid off, courtesy of Álvarez. Haaland kept himself onside before putting it on a plate for the Argentine who did the rest.

Our lads didn’t let the setback affect them and got themselves level just seconds later. Raúl did brilliantly to direct a volley from a corner towards goal and Tim Ream was in position to blast home from the rebound.

The game opened up as we approached half-time. Issa Diop did brilliantly to get up high and get a touch on a Foden cross which was heading straight for Haaland.

And the hosts scored a dubious goal from the resulting corner, when Nathan Aké directed his header into the bottom left corner. Leno's view appeared to be blocked by Akanji, who was in an offisde position, but the goal was somehow given after a VAR check.

As a result of that, we went in behind at the break.

De Cordova-Reid was the first to have an attempt after the interval, with his strike from range after a one-two flying over.

Thing got worse for us on 59 minutes, when Haaland found himself through on goal before slotting home to increase City’s advantage. Plenty of work to do for Marco’s men.

We very nearly found an instant response for a second time after some decent play from Raúl. After cutting in on the by-line, he squared the ball to Harris but the Welshman couldn’t get a clean connection on his shot.

Álvarez almost made it four if not for some excellent defending from Diop. Our centre-back bust a gut to keep up with the City man and block his effort after he was slotted through by Haaland.

Diop was involved again a couple of minutes later, but not in a way he'd have liked this time. After running into Álvarez as he charged through on goal, a penalty was given and Haaland converted to make it 4-1. 

Castagne got his first taste at Fulham soon after, coming on for Kenny Tete. He was involved instantly, chipping a decent ball forward which led to Raúl forcing a diving stop out of Ederson.

City kept the ball from us in the final stages and Haaland fired home late on to secure his hat-trick.