Fulham 4-5 Man City: Erling Haaland broke a Premier League record to help City reach 5-1 up before the Cottagers sparked their revival
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(REUTERS)
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Erling Haaland brought up his century of Premier League goals as Manchester City survived a remarkable Fulham comeback in a madcap 5-4 win.
City were 5-1 up and cruising shortly after half-time, but goals from Alex Iwobi and substitute Samuel Chukwueze’s double left them clinging on for dear life by the end.
They are now two points behind leaders Arsenal, who host Brentford on Wednesday, but a title tilt is surely not sustainable with defending like this.
Haaland had earlier become, by some distance, the quickest player to score 100 times in the Premier League, taking just 111 matches.
He took only 17 minutes to find the net at Craven Cottage and become the 35th member of the Premier League 100 club.
Alan Shearer was the previous quickest, reaching three figures in his 124th match, 30 years ago in 1995. The Norwegian had already rattled a post when his big moment arrived.
Phil Foden found Jeremy Doku who drove in a low cross, Tijjani Reijnders let the ball run and Haaland slammed it first time into the roof of the net.
Yet it was a milestone that got lost in the mayhem of what was to follow.
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(REUTERS)
Fulham almost forced a shock equaliser midway through the first half when Iwobi fed Emile Smith Rowe, who turned sharply in the box and forced a fine save from Gianluigi Donnarumma.
But City doubled their lead in the 38th minute, with Haaland this time the creator.
The striker held off Joachim Andersen on halfway and played a neat through-ball between Kenny Tete and Calvin Bassey, with Reijnders lifting his shot over Bernd Leno.
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(Bradley Collyer/PA Wire)
Foden got in on the act two minutes before half-time, the England midfielder collecting a punch from Leno on the edge of the box and unleashing a rocket into the top corner.
Smith Rowe pulled one back in first-half stoppage time with a well-taken header from Harry Wilson’s cross.
Any thoughts of a Fulham comeback should have been extinguished three minutes into the second half when Haaland touched another Doku cross to Foden, who finished clinically at the far post for his fourth goal in two matches.
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(Getty Images)
City’s fifth arrived six minutes later, Doku’s shot clipping Sander Berge’s knee and looping over Leno.
There was still little sense of jeopardy for the visitors when Iwobi pulled another one back for Fulham, curling home from 20 yards.
That was until substitute Chukwueze lashed in his first Fulham goals, two in the space of six minutes.
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(REUTERS)
When his second flew past an increasingly shell-shocked Donnarumma there were still 12 minutes left, plus eight of stoppage time.
Marco Silva’s side threw everything at City, but just when another sub, Josh King, thought he had grabbed an equaliser and the unlikeliest of points, Josko Gvardiol got back to clear his shot off the line.