Manchester City ends the season with the pace of champions and after beating Wolverhampton the day before they also got a Fulham with nothing at stake and it was noticeable on the Craven Cottage grass (0-4).
The difference this time is that the top scorer is not Haaland, who has just played a game of ‘poker’. Pep Guardiola does not rely on anyone and even if the goals are falling heavily for the ‘citizen’ they won with an unexpected scorer like Josko Gvardiol, who added two goals and has at least 5 in last seven games, numbers they want to add many more.
The rivalry doesn’t have much history. Without news, the guide of their attack is De Bruyne. When things didn’t go as smoothly as usual, another assist came from his feet to complete the Belgian’s amazing one-two with his right foot, beating Leno, who was clearly Fulham’s best player, to keep out the greater defeat (13′). Those moments at the start of the game were when it looked like Marco Silva’s men might threaten to do something, but their hopes were dashed by an inspired Ruben Dias in defence, even missing Nathan Ake in injury.
City played long and horizontal possession in the first half, trying to wear down Fulham with their pressure task, which was neither very expressive nor dangerous. He started by covering all possible spaces and ended the first half tired, with the current Premier League champions trying to put more space on the road, although that did not happen until the second half, using the right hand from Foden , another whose goals fall into his pockets (59′).
From there, the rest is a breeze. If Fulham were already under pressure, he was badly injured. Leno endured it between the sticks, very confident in his saves, but his talent reached a certain limit. He had nothing to do with Gvardiol’s second, an acrobatic shot at the far post from the center of Bernardo Silva (71′) and even less with the last one from Julián Álvarez, which came from a penalty caused by Diop, who destroyed his good game with expulsion for double yellow (97′).
With this victory, Manchester City became the leader and put all the pressure on Arsenal, who, two points below this Sunday, play against Manchester United in a trap match and could almost decide the league if the Gunners.
match lineup
17
twenty-one
33
26
31
3
14
22
19
18
twenty
31
25
24
8
3
6
twenty
16
9
17
47
Craven Cottage
Ederson31
Manuel Akanji25
89′
Josko Guardiol24
12′
70′
Mateo Kovacic8
81′
77′
94′
Ruben Dias3
Nathan Ake6
twenty-one’
Four.
Bernard Silvatwenty
Rodri16
66′
Erling Haaland9
81′
73′
Kevin De Bruyne17
74′
Four.
Phil Foden47
58′
81′
Replacements
Stephen Ortega18
Kyle Walker2
twenty-one’
John Stones5
Rico Lewis82
81′
73′
Sergio Gomeztwenty-one
Four.
Matheus Nunes27
Oscar Bob52
81′
66′
Jeremy DokuEleven
74′
Four.
Julian Alvarez19
81′
95′
coach
Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva
Pep Guardiola
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
