Against an opponent struggling in the bottom half of the rankings, coach Pep Guardiola certainly could not have expected that his team would score 5 goals but still have to go through the stressful final minutes.
Man City played explosively and led the home team 5-1 in less than an hour of play. Erling Haaland, Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden all shined in the first half.
At the beginning of the second half, Foden completed his double, while Sander Berge played an own goal, helping the away team increase the score to 5-1. On the other hand, Fulham only had a goal to reduce the gap thanks to Emile Smith Rowe.
As for Haaland, he has reached the milestone of 100 goals in the Premier League, becoming the 35th player in history to reach this milestone, and the fastest player to achieve that achievement in the tournament with only 111 matches.
However, the Citizens' loose defense created conditions for Fulham to score 3 goals in a row, shortening the score to 4-5. In the last 20 minutes of the match, including extra time, the away team had to struggle to defend and at many times it seemed to be equalized.
Luck helped Man City maintain a fragile advantage until the final whistle. In the 90+9 minute, Man City fans held their breath when they saw Gianluigi Donnarumma beaten by Kevin, but the ball was still blown by the defender right on the goal line.
With 3 hard-fought points at Craven Cottage, Guardiola's team temporarily narrowed the gap with Arsenal to 2 points but played more than 1 match. In this round, the "Gunners" will face Brentford.
