Fulham well beaten by impressive Man City

Man City 3 Fulham 0


Slow starts in each half condemned Fulham to a deserved defeat, with goals from Leroy Sané, David Silva and Raheem Sterling giving Manchester City a resounding win.

A costly error from Jean Michaël Seri within the first 90 seconds allowed Fernandinho to intercept and square the ball to Sané, who slotted easily past Marcus Bettinelli to open the scoring.

The Whites, who were still missing captain Tom Cairney through injury, were no match for the defending Premier League champions’ incisive passing sequences, which cut Fulham’s defence open on a number of occasions.

City could have been ahead by several more goals at half-time, had it not been for Bettinelli’s string of saves from the home side’s front line, including a block onto the crossbar from Sterling.

But it took 20 minutes for Pep Guardiola’s side to double their lead.

Bernardo Silva – a standout performer in the match – pulled the ball back to Sergio Agüero, whose shot was deflected into the path of David Silva and the Spaniard lashed in from close range off the bar.

Fulham’s attack had far fewer chances to speak of throughout, but their best opportunity came four minutes before the break when Luciano Vietto worked the ball across to André Schürrle and the German’s shot was tipped over the bar by Ederson.

And, barely two minutes after the restart, Sterling put City out of reach by tapping in Agüero’s deflected ball across goal, before the hosts coasted to a sixth consecutive victory over Fulham.

Fulham: Bettinelli; Christie, Mawson, Odoi, Sessegnon; McDonald, Johansen, Seri (Zambo Anguissa 56’); Vietto (Ayité 69’), Schürrle, Mitrović
Subs not used: Fabri, Fosu-Mensah, Le Marchand, Chambers, Bryan.