City nudge Fulham closer to relegation

Fulham 0 Man City 2

Fulham were powerless to prevent Manchester City from cruising back to the top of the Premier League table, as they fell to their eighth defeat in a row.

The Whites, doomed to make a quick return to the Championship, hoped to make it difficult for Pep Guardiola’s quadruple-chasers by playing five at the back, but were behind after less than five minutes – architects of their own misfortune through some sloppy play.

Timothy Fosu-Mensah’s stray pass was ruthlessly exploited as Sergio Aguero fed Bernardo Silva, who cut inside two players before rolling a low shot past Sergio Rico’s right hand.

Fulham tried their best to get a toe-hold in the match, but after withstanding shots from Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne, another defensive error made it 2-0 after 27 minutes.

This time, Joe Bryan underhit a pass, allowing Bernardo Silva to feed Aguero, and only one outcome was likely – the Argentinian shrugging off Maxime Le Marchand before firing into the roof of the net.

Deprived of Aleksandar Mitrovic, injured on international duty, Fulham simply did not have the firepower to get back into it, and in any case saw precious little of the ball as City calmly went about their untroubled business.

Kyle Walker crashed a shot against a post late on, but City only looked half-interested in inflicting more pain on the Cottagers. They have bigger fish to fry in the weeks ahead.