Manchester City vs Fulham. Premier League.
Etihad StadiumAttendance52,719.
Report as Mateo Kovacic scored twice to overcome a first-half deficit and punish wasteful Fulham; the visitors missed three big chances and finished with a greater xG than Man City; Jeremey Doku hit a stunning winner in second half
Saturday 5 October 2024 22:02, UK
Manchester City were forced to come from behind to beat wasteful Fulham 3-2 at Etihad Stadium, maintaining pressure on Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Fulham stole the lead when Antonee Robinson's cross was kept alive by Alex Iwobi, who slipped a pass through to Raul Jimenez, and he played an outrageous back-flick to Andreas Pereira, catching Manuel Akanji cold.
The delicious disguise fooled all in Manchester City blue, looping over Akanji's head, before dropping onto the foot of Pereira to prod past Ederson.
City's leveller was less prescribed but just as important, because it happened moments after Adama Traore missed a huge opportunity to put the visitors 2-0 up.
Ilkay Gundogan's corner bounced off Traore and fell kindly to Mateo Kovacic, who lashed home via a Joachim Andersen deflection. Barely 90 seconds into the second period, City were ahead, and the champions rarely squander a lead.
Fulham showed Kovacic far too much respect on the edge of their own box, allowing the midfielder to stroke a lovely finish inside Bernd Leno's right-hand post.
The points were secure when Jeremy Doku, on as a second-half substitute, arrowed a fine swirling strike into the top-right corner, despite Rodrigo Muniz forcing a nervy end by pulling a goal back late on.
The visitors missed three big chances in total - two falling to Traore - and finished with a greater xG than Pep Guardiola's side.
Rarely do Manchester City concede a greater expected goals total than they generate, especially at home. But Fulham didn't come to the Etihad to sit back and defend in a low block. They came to play.
Marco Silva's side created five big chances throughout a topsy-turvy 90 minutes, and passed up three of them. A hat-trick of opportunities fell the way of Adama Traore, responsible for nearly half (1.04) of Fulham's 2.40 xG, with fast breaks a hallmark of everything good about Silva's bold approach.
Pep Guardiola was deep in conversation with Traore at the end of the game - he singled him out. It looked like the City boss, knowing his side were somewhat lucky, was offering counsel after the forward cost Fulham what would have inevitably been a share of the spoils - maybe more.
And it wasn't that Ederson was necessarily on fire. The goalkeeper got the better of Traore in two one-vs-ones but never appeared to be at full stretch.
The ploy to hurt on the counter-attack was so nearly perfect. It carved Manchester City open far more times than Guardiola would have been comfortable with. If only Traore could finish...
Fulham manager Marco Silva:
"We have two ways to look. Performance wise, we have to be proud, it gives us the feeling that we are in the right direction. We are growing. And it's not just in transition, we started to control the game on the ball, we were patient.
"City finished with five at the back. So it gives us courage to stick with our philosophy as a team.
"We can be unhappy with the result. We deserve more from the game. But that's football, it's a process. Next time we have these types of chances we have to be able to score more."
Man City manager Pep Guardiola:
"They create chances, that's the truth, but my feeling is the game was well played [by Fulham]. Adama [Traore] is unstoppable, so you have to defend. They put a lot of runners, and they did it well. We knew it.
"They have lost just one game this season. They have incredible results and every season, with Marco Silva, they get better and better. When we have an incredible record of winning here in our stadium it's because some games are won a hard way. Nothing in life is easy."
Speaking about the goalscoring performance of Mateo Kovacic, Guardiola said: "When they defend with five at the back, immediately we had two chances. Our first goal was brilliant, the second one as well, and Kova is really important to exploiting teams who play with five in the back. Now teams know they cannot leave Kova alone."
