Manchester City Survive Fulham Fightback

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland became the fastest player to reach 100 Premier League goals to ignite their charge on Tuesday, and then Pep Guardiola’s men held off a furious comeback effort from Fulham in a wild 5-4 win.

 

Phil Foden bagged a double, Tijjani Reijnders also struck and Sander Berge scored an own goal to keep City firmly in the title hunt in second place with 28 points. Leaders Arsenal, who have 30 points, host Brentford on Wednesday.

 

Fulham are 15th on 17 points.

 

City looked to be heading for a rout at Craven Cottage with a gaping 5-1 lead but Fulham roared back with three second-half goals — a brace from Samuel Chukwueze and one from Alex Iwobi — for a thrilling finish.

 

Haaland made history in the 17th minute with a blistering left-footed shot from Jeremy Doku’s cross, scoring his 100th goal in his 111th game, 13 fewer than the previous fastest centurion Alan Shearer.

 

Reijnders doubled City’s lead in the 37th when he ran onto a through ball from Haaland, and Foden struck his first in the 44th minute with a beautiful shot from outside the box into the top-left corner.

 

Fulham are 15th on 17 points.

 

“I think if you’re sitting at home now you enjoyed that game,” Haaland told Sky Sports. “It was a crazy game, nine goals is a lot. In the end, we win and we’re happy but it’s not the best win.”

 

Asked if he could enjoy the game as a football fan, Guardiola laughed and said: “Impossible.”

 

“5-1, yeah, but 5-4, I was watching more the watch than the game,” he said. “But with the time, I will remember the day I was there. When both teams, they want to try — top quality players — and go forward, the football is incredibly spectacular.”

 

Manchester City thoroughly dominated the first half but Iwobi’s goal breathed hope into the home side against a visiting team that was shockingly passive after the break, and will need to sort out their defence to challenge for the title.

 

Asked about narrowing the gap with Arsenal, Haaland said: “We should focus on ourselves, today wasn’t good enough and we know this. We need to improve as a team and that’s what we’ll do.”

 

City have won their past 19 meetings against Fulham in all competitions since 2012, which is the longest winning run by a team against any opponent in English football.

 

“Normally, if you are losing by a heavy score against a side like City, many things can go in their mind,” said Fulham boss Marco Silva. “You can be thinking, okay, the damage is there, probably it’s better to not take any risk and don’t go and face the game. But the reaction was unbelievable, from the boys and from the fans.”

(Reuters)