Manchester City | Fulham 0-2 Manchester City: Premier League – as it happened

Pep talks! “Our first 15-20 minutes was one of our best of the season. We started after the international break with incredible spirit, we scored one goal and could have scored more. Fulham has quality players but we controlled them. An incredible result for us. We did what we should do. Some players were tired but they will come back up to their rhythm. Playing away after the break is always difficult, the players reacted very well. The guys who didn’t play today have a big chance on Wednesday to play. We are not going to win the Premier League with 11 players, or reach the finals or semis of other competitions. Forget about it. Liverpool and Manchester City have done incredible all season and deserve all the credit, but one will not be happy at the end. The numbers are incredible. Enjoy the moment and dream to win another game and another game. Against Cardiff we will be with our people, and good memories of Bernard.”

2h ago 14:48

Scott Parker’s verdict. “It was a tough day. From the outset we knew the challenge ahead. On the day it proved that. We had a little bit of a nervous start and it would be a tough mountain to climb. We showed some bits at times, but against a world-class side it’s not enough really. Our mistakes came from pressure, they put you in those scenarios. But the way we play is not going to change. Mistakes happen. And we had some good spells. But it was a difficult afternoon. I do feel there have been some improvements. I have no doubt given time we can turn things around.”
 

 

 

And now the Fulham perspective courtesy of Cyrus Christie. “It’s always tough when you play a team of that calibre. You can’t give them a sniff, and we gave them two goals with two bad passes. They were clinical. We made it too easy for them. We made it hard for ourselves. But we didn’t test their keeper, there was no end product, Ederson didn’t have to make a save. We’re disappointed by that. When the second goal went in, that stopped the momentum we were building up. We’ve got six games left, mathematically we’re still in it, so we need to keep our heads high, keep pushing, and hopefully we can pick up the results we need.”

Kyle Walker is asked whether City, who have now won seven on the bounce, are slipping into top gear at exactly the right time. “I think we’ve done well all season. Obviously we had the little blip, but hopefully that’s behind us. Apart from that, we’ve done remarkably well, we’re in all competitions, so we’re still fighting. We just need to take each game as it comes, and pick up victories in each one.”

City celebrate the result with their fans, though it’s bittersweet. They wear red-and-black 1969 FA Cup final scarves in memory of Bernard Halford, their former secretary and life president who passed away this week. Pep Guardiola’s team were sensational in the opening exchanges of this match, sending Fulham heads spinning like a teenager after two cans of Special Brew. The game was pretty much settled from the get-go, City pressing the home side’s tissue-strength defence into the mistakes that led to both goals. The hosts offered nothing in attack. The difference between the reigning champions and a side that only came up from the play-offs laid bare. City are now favourites for the title, while Fulham are almost certain to go back down.

FULL TIME: Fulham 0-2 Manchester City

Fulham have given both Chelsea and Liverpool a hard game at Craven Cottage of late. They didn’t provide any resistance to Manchester City, though, Pep Guardiola’s champions strutting and sashaying to the easiest 2-0 win you’ll ever see. City go top, a point ahead of Liverpool with seven games to go. It’s in their hands. Fulham aren’t down yet, but it’s just a matter of time.
 

 

90 min +2: Schurrle sprays a lovely pass wide right for Christie, but the resulting cross doesn’t trouble City at all. Fulham have been inept in defence today, and not a whole lot better in attack.

 

87 min: Schurrle whips a low inswinger into the box. The ball bagatelles its way through to Ederson. That could have gone anywhere.

90 min: Anguissa barrels down the left, a fine run that takes three City players to stop. There will be four added minutes.

3h ago 14:16

88 min: Sterling shoots wildly over, and that’s his last contribution to this match. He’s replaced by Mahrez. Fulham meanwhile make their last change, sending on McDonald for Babel. So the Dutch winger couldn’t do his former club a favour today, as it turns out.

86 min: Babel is brought down again, this time by Sterling out on the left. The Fulham fans want Sterling booked, but a harsh word from the ref is all that happens.84 min: Gundogan has a lashom distance. 

 

That effort, miles over the bar, is currently flying over nearby Twickenham, which seems apt.

 

 

 

 83 min: Bryan crosses deep from the left. Christie rises at the far post and heads back across goal. Kebano sends a meek header wide left. That was a decent half-chance, as good as Fulham have managed all afternoon. If they had any hope of scrambling an unlikely draw, that one had to go in.

82 min: Babel is bowled over by Otamendi and it’s a free kick out on the left. Fulham line up on the edge of the City box. Nothing much comes of the set piece, floated and wasted.

80 min: ... City fly up the other end, Sterling feeding Walker down the inside-right channel. The full back slams a shot, intended for the top right, off the post and away.

79 min: Le Marchand flies at David Silva and will be booked. But only after ...

77 min: Walker slams a clearance straight into Schurrle’s coupon. Ooyah, oof, that was flush. He’s up and about soon enough.75 min: De Bruyne makes way for Fernandinho as City look to ease to the line.


74 min: Schurrle has the chance to send Babel tearing down the right, but decides to purchase a cheap free kick from Zinchenko instead. A chance to load the box. The free kick’s hooped into the mixer, and flies off Otamendi for Fulham’s first corner of the m... ah hold on, someone’s caught offside.
 72 min: Bryan threatens to scoot clear down the left but Walker slams the door. Then Christie hooks in a cross from the right, but it’s easily plucked out of the sky by Ederson. A little better from Fulham, not that they’re asking any serious questions.

70 min: Fulham’s captain Cairney is replaced by Schurrle, who returns after a lengthy battle with a virus. 

69 min: Le Marchand opts against a simple clearance and instead chooses to tee up Sterling. Fulham’s defence is a circus troupe. Sterling can’t get a meaningful shot away. Let’s call it an indicative shot.

67 min: Christie goes in the book for an unnecessary clatter on David Silva. A little bit of frustration perhaps. Christie had clearly decided that Silva wasn’t getting past, no matter what.

66 min: Sterling is sent clear down the right by a lovely threaded Walker pass. Sterling should really do better than just winning a corner. But a corner’s a corner. And that leads to a second corner, which is eyebrowed clear by Christie.


65 min: Fosu-Mensah is good to continue. Meanwhile in other Fulham personnel news, Ayite is replaced by Kebano.


64 min: Anyway, Fosu-Menssah had fouled Sterling while hurting himself, so it’s a free kick out on the left. De Bruyne swings it in, and Rico flaps it away under pressure from Otamendi.

63 min: Fosu-Mensah is down, receiving an accidental clack on his ankle while tackling Sterling. Fulham will presumably be hoping this time is not added on at the end.

61 min: Once again Fulham fail to clear their lines, and Sterling is able to scamper in from the left and send a shot towards the bottom right. Rico gets a strong hand on the ball, and Bernardo Silva isn’t able to turn home the rebound. A third goal seems merely a matter of time.

59 min: Rico rolls a pass out for Anguissa, who clearly doesn’t want it and plays a first-time pass back to Fosu-Mensah. It zips out for a corner. Oh dear. If City score from this, it’ll be an unwelcome hat-trick of own-foot-shooting misery. But the corner’s hit long and straight out for a goal kick. Blessed relief for Fulham’s hapless defence.

58 min: Aguero takes a couple of glances towards the bench, and is eventually hooked for Jesus. He’s not limping, so hopefully nothing serious, but this is obviously a precautionary measure.

57 min: Some Fulham pressure! Sessegnon gets the better of Walker down the left. His cross ends up at the feet of Anguissa, 20 yards out. He can’t get a shot away. The ball’s shifted wide left to Cairney, whose cross nearly finds Babel, Ederson punching away. And the flag goes up anyway.

55 min: City are beginning to impose themselves again. It’s defence versus attack, in the training-ground style.



53 min: Suddenly Bernardo Silva rolls a pass down the right, allowing De Bruyne to win a corner off Chambers. It’s 8-0 in terms of corners now. Anguissa heads clear, but De Bruyne is soon bursting down the right again. He cuts back and tees up Otamendi, who skies a shot that’s now sailing over Hammersmith.

51 min: This isn’t exactly high-octane stuff. City have slipped into this-game-is-surely-won mode, while Fulham, despite seeing a bit more of the ball, aren’t doing anything to knock them out of their breezy stride. Craven Cottage is very quiet. You can almost hear the dirty old river rolling.
 

 

49 min: Fulham are seeing plenty of the ball in these early second-half exchanges, though they’re doing little with it. Baby steps. If only they’d started the match like this, Scott Parker will surely be thinking.

47 min: A neat burst from deep by Sessegnon, putting City on the back foot. That allows Bryan to make good down the left, but with men in the box, he flays a miserable cross deep into the stand behind the goal. It’s been a tough afternoon for poor Bryan.

 

 

Fulham get the second half underway. Possession is squandered immediately. City knock it around. Otamendi eventually miscues and gifts Fulham a throw, which gives the home wags something new to cheer about.

 

Half-time entertainment. City are heading back to the top, but the Premier League title race isn’t quite over yet. Although most of our scribes have a good idea who’s going to prevail. Here’s how they see things developing along the final stretch.

Fulham have been given a dreadful chasing by City, though both goals are results of their own mistakes. As things stand - and those things are extremely unlikely to change - City are heading back to the top of the Premier League.

Fulham have been given a dreadful chasing by City, though both goals are results of their own mistakes. As things stand - and those things are extremely unlikely to change - City are heading back to the top of the Premier League.
 

 

 

45 min: Bryan nearly makes up for his role in the second goal. Sessegnon is sent scampering down the left, and pulls one back for Bryan, who sends a shot-cum-cross whistling across Ederson’s goal, inches wide of the bottom right. That would have put a different complexion on things, albeit only slightly.
 

 

 

44 min: Bernardo Silva toys with Bryan down the right, then cuts back for Gundogan, who sends a diagonal screamer towards the top left. It’s always curling away from goal, though Rico was at full stretch, unsure.

 

 

43 min: It’s a lovely peaceful spring day down by the river. You can hear a pin drop right now. Fulham’s spirit is broken.
 

42 min: Gundogan is brought down 25 yards from the Fulham goal. Quite a few City players fancy this free kick. But it’s De Bruyne who takes it. He bashes a shot that hits his own man Otamendi, who tries to rescue the situation by getting involved with Rico as the keeper makes a meal of gathering the ball. Rico wins, eventually.

 

40 min: This is like a training session now. Fulham spent £100m in the summer!