Fulham 4 Manchester City 5: match reportAttacking brilliance at the cost of a shaky defence for the Blues as they take three points in Fulham
Manchester City defeated Fulham 5-4 to move within 2 points of Arsenal in what turned out to be a thrilling game for the neutral. Despite the three points, the Blues will feel concerned about their defence, having conceded 4 goals, including 3 in the second half alone. Donnarumma started in goal. O’Reilly, Dias, Gvardiol, and Nunes were the back four. Reijnders, Gonzalez, and Silva were in midfield with Doku, Foden, and Haaland in attack.
City looked very in control for most of the first half and established a three-goal lead by the 45th minute. Haaland scored the first goal, knocking in the cross from Doku first time to become the fastest Premier League striker to score 100 goals. Haaland then set up the second goal, passing it through to Reijnders who poked the ball past Leno to give City the second before a fantastic long shot from Foden made it 3-0.
The Blues looked set to take a three-goal lead into halftime with them however, this would not be the case as a Fulham cross in found the head of Smith Rowe to make it 3-1 at half-time. A frustrating goal to concede for City but plenty of positives at half-time.
City re-established their three-goal advantage two minutes into the second half when Doku’s ball in deflected off the legs of Haaland into Foden who knocked the ball in to give himself his 2nd and City’s fourth. A brilliant performance from him on the night.
A few moments later, Doku had the ball outside the box and took a show which deflected off Fulham defender Berge and into the net to make it 5-1.
The game seemed all but sealed by this stage, but this certainly did not seem the case in what followed.
In the 57th minute, a Fulham corner was cleared by the City defence which found its way to Iwobi, who shot from distance and placed the ball into the bottom right corner to make it 5-2.
Fifteen minutes later, Chukwueze thundered on in to make it 5-3 before scoring AGAIN after a cleared corner to make it 5-4. From a very comfortable position, the Blues were now hanging on in desperation for the three points.
Haaland hit the post and Gvardiol had a shot saved as City looked to re-establish a surely unassailable lead but were unsuccessful in doing so. In the dying moments, Fulham very nearly had their equaliser after an attempt found its way past Donnarumma but Gvardiol cleared the ball off the line, much to the relief of the City defence. The final whistle finally went and the score finished 5-4
City can’t be too pleased with four conceded but will take three points at this stage. Their attack appears to be back to ruthlessness with Foden and Haaland bursting back to form but the same absolutely cannot be said about the defence at the moment and will need to tighten up at the back if they are to challenge for the title this season. They face another tough test in Sunderland at home this Sunday.
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