DBasia.news – Manchester City won a 2-0 victory over the promoted team, Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday (5/12) evening. From these results, City has extended their unbeaten streak to 40 home games against promoted teams in the Premier League.
Manchester City tried to control the game from the start. Guardiola’s team immediately locked Fulham. The result, when the game was only three minutes in, Raheem Sterling was threatening with a shot from inside the penalty box. However, the ball was pushed over by Alphonse Areola.
Two minutes later, Sterling did not want to waste another opportunity. Receiving Kevin de Bruyne’s ball, Sterling’s low-scoring ball successfully broke into Fulham’s goal.
City continued to dominate the game, while Fulham could only try the occasional counterattack.
In the 13th minute, the host got the opportunity through De Bruyne. However, the Belgian player’s efforts after receiving Riyad Mahrez’s pass could still be blocked by Areola.
Kevin De Bruyne finally managed to list his name on the scoreboard in the 26th minute. De Bruyne successfully carried out his duties as a penalty executioner. Fulham was punished following Joachim Andersen’s offense against Sterling.
Sterling has a chance on the 32nd minute to widen the distance, but his shot was cleared by Areola. Man City’s pressure got more intense entering the last five minutes of the first half. They wanted to lead comfortably during the break.
In the second half, City still controled the game. After just four minutes, City almost scored their third goal. Unfortunately De Bruyne’s hard kick from inside the penalty box only hit Fulham’s crossbar.
The wave of City’s attacks did not abate. In the 57th minute, Areola continued to act to break De Bruyne’s chances.
One hour into the game, Man City increasingly dominated with ball possession reaching 75 percent. Entering the 75th minute, Fulham received a double chance through Ola Aina and Ivan Cavaleiro, but all failed to produce results.
Cavaleiro received another chance in the 83rd minute. But again the ball from outside the penalty box was still off target.
Until the match was over, the score 2-0 for Manchester City did not change. With this result City managed to move up to the top four of the Premier League standings by packing 18 points from 10 matches. Meanwhile, Fulham is in 17th position with seven points from 11 matches.
Lineups of Players:
MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Joao Cancelo, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Benjamin Mendy; Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan; Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling; Gabriel Jesus.
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Alphonse Areola; Ola Aina, Joachim Andersen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Antonee Robinson; Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Harrison Reed (Lemina 68); Bobby De Cordova-Reid (Kamara 72), Ruben Lofus-Cheek (Cairney 83), Ademola Lookman; Ivan Cavaleiro.