Fulham 4-5 Manchester City: Late Gvardiol clearance denies home side outrageous comeback
Where to begin in this absolutely mad game? Blink and you’ll miss a goal. This match was remarkable not only because there were nine goals, most of them brilliantly executed, but also because at first it seemed like a rout. Manchester City went 5-1 up and it looked dead and buried.
Then it was Fulham’s turn and City got on the receiving end. Samuel Chukwueze scored two and Josh King nearly grabbed a late equaliser before Josko Gvardiol cleared literally off the line.
Marco Silva’s side will be disappointed they didn’t get a point in the end but the day belonged initially to Erling Haaland. The towering Norwegian became the fastest player to reach 100 Premier League goals when he slammed the ball in first time from 12 yards, after a low cross from Jeremy Doku.
City continued to soar. They doubled their advantage when Haaland split Fulham’s defence to find Tijjani Reijnders, who lifted the ball over Bernd Leno.
Phil Foden was back on the scoresheet with an impossibly sweet long-range effort for City’s third, but Fulham restored belief just before half-time when Emile Smith Rowe stooped to send a header beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma.
City came back out of the tunnel still hungry for goals. First Foden secured his second brace in successive games before Doku curled the ball in with help from a big deflection off Sander Berge.
It was 5-1 then and surely over if there was any sense of rationality still left in the Premier League. Alex Iwobi struck from distance to pull one back and City were rattled, but even then there did not seem to be any immediate danger, until Chukwueze had his two brilliant moments in the space of six minutes.
First he slammed a shot in from the edge of the box and then was on hand again to capitalise on Donnarumma’s poor clearance from a corner.
The home side smelled blood and poured forward. Chukwueze could have bagged a sensational hat trick after he dribbled past three City players but was let down by his finish. Then King was heartbroken when Gvardiol scampered back to clear off the line.
