Man City ease past Fulham to go three points behind Arsenal

Manchester City cut Arsenal's lead at the top of the Premier League to three points with a routine 3-0 victory over Fulham. 

Having required two late goals to defeat Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, Pep Guardiola's men found things far more comfortable at the Etihad Stadium, racing into a three-goal lead within 39 minutes. 

Antoine Semenyo scored their opener before assisting Nico O'Reilly for their second. Then Erling Haaland ended his eight-game wait for an open-play Premier League goal with a drilled finish. 

Even after Guardiola took off Haaland at half-time, and though City could not add to their advantage in the second period, Fulham never truly threatened. 

City will now watch on with interest as Arsenal visit Brentford on Thursday, while Fulham stay 12th in the table following their third straight defeat.  

How the match unfolded

Phil Foden was heavily involved early on, seeing a rocket of a volley deflect wide and side-footing straight at goalkeeper Bernd Leno. 

But it was Semenyo who struck first for City in the 24th minute, prodding home after Matheus Nunes' hanging cross deflected into his path off midfielder Sander Berge. 

Semenyo then turned provider for City's second goal on the half-hour mark, slipping in O'Reilly to finish across Leno less than a minute after Gianluigi Donnarumma made a sharp stop to deny Harry Wilson. 

Watch: Semenyo's goal and assist

It was 3-0 when Haaland picked out the bottom-right corner after being fed by Foden on the edge of the box, though Emile Smith Rowe passed up an immediate chance to get Fulham back in the contest.  

Smith Rowe saw another effort pushed into the side netting by Donnarumma early in the second half, before another menacing City move culminated in substitute Omar Marmoush being kept out by Leno. 

Fit-again striker Rodrigo Muniz joined Josh King in working Donnarumma late on, but the Italian held onto his clean sheet in relative comfort. 

City on the charge again

Entering the 84th minute of Sunday's match with Liverpool, City's title hopes were hanging by a thread. But following a late turnaround at Anfield and a routine victory here, they are once again breathing down Arsenal's necks at the top of the table. 

The hosts never looked like squandering the opportunity to put the leaders under pressure, with their ferocious high press penning Fulham back from the first minute. 

City funnelled most of their early attacks down the right as Nunes stretched the play, with Bernardo Silva's clever reverse pass getting him to the byline for their first major chance, which Foden was unable to take. 

There was a hint of fortune about the way Nunes' cross dropped into Semenyo's path for the opener, but it was still a wicked delivery from the Portugal international, who also prompted the counter-attack that led to O'Reilly's goal. 

In truth, the job looked to be done at 2-0, but Haaland's goal was the icing on the cake. Guardiola said this week that City would not even be in contention for trophies without the striker, so his first open-play Premier League goal since 20 December will be a major boost.  

Watch: Haaland's finish against Fulham

City fans will hope Haaland's withdrawal was precautionary after he appeared to take a kick late in the first half, with an FA Cup tie against Salford City next up on Saturday. 

Fulham's City hoodoo continues

While City fought back for a dramatic victory over a Merseyside club last time out, Fulham capitulated to lose 2-1 to Everton, with that result representing a major dent to their hopes of pushing for Europe. 

And there were few reasons for Marco Silva's team to be optimistic as they travelled to the Etihad. Fulham had lost 16 consecutive Premier League matches against City, the worst losing run by one club against another in English league history. 

Their bid to halt that run never truly got off the ground, with Fulham's insistence on working the ball out from the back playing into City's hands.

Their big moment came at 1-0 down in the 29th minute, when in-form attacker Wilson saw the ball take a kind bounce back into his path following a slaloming run. However, his shot was too close to Donnarumma, and 51 seconds later, O'Reilly had the ball in the net at the other end. 

An even clearer opening passed them by at 3-0, with Smith Rowe just unable to prod Raul Jimenez's cross home on the slide, though the game was realistically beyond them by that point. 

Muniz getting through half an hour as a substitute will be a major positive for Silva, as the Brazilian continues to work his way back from injury, and he will hope the striker can take another positive step against Stoke City in the FA Cup this weekend.  

What the managers said

Pep Guardiola: “[Our performance was] really good. One of the best of the season, [especially] after Anfield for our experience there, in an important, emotional game. The next one is always tricky. We were lucky we were home, not away. In our first game there [at Fulham], we suffered incredibly. The second half, we didn’t run there. We ran today. We adjusted a few things in our pressing. In the second half they made a step up and were more aggressive.”

Marco Silva: “Of course, as always, we have to be humble enough to congratulate our opponent, and definitely City were better than us, simple as that. But, looking for us as always, we were not at the level. We knew how probably they were going to start, their high press, and on the ball clearly we didn't play in the way we are capable to play. The man on man that City put most of the time during the first half, we were not able to break.

“One or two moments we did it – that was the reason, for example, that created the chance with Harry Wilson when the game was 1-0 and we had a big chance to equalise.But even so, overall, it was not at a level that we are capable to play, definitely. That was not good enough, and we gave some cheap goals. Simple as that.”

Club reports

Man City report | Fulham report

PL form and fixtures

Key facts

Man City have won all 15 of their games against Fulham under Guardiola (all competitions), with this now his longest ever winning streak against an opponent in his managerial career.

This was the 33rd time that Man City had led by 3+ goals at half time of a Premier League match under Guardiola. Since he arrived at the club ahead of the 2016/17 season, this is more than twice as often as any other team has done so in the competition (16 by Tottenham Hotspur the next most).

Haaland scored his first non-penalty goal in the Premier League since 20 December (two v West Ham United), ending his longest run of league games for Man City without one (eight). Haaland also ended a run of 24 non-penalty shots without scoring in the competition.

Semenyo has been directly involved in seven goals against Fulham in the Premier League (four goals, three assists); his most against any opponent in the competition. Indeed, his four goals are also his most against one team in the top flight.