Man City vs Fulham | Ilkay Gundogan surged forward from midfield before finding Julian Alvarez, who scored the game’s first goal. However, the atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium quickly altered when Joao Cancelo gave up a penalty and was sent off ten minutes later. Andreas Pereira successfully converted the penalty kick, but despite having a larger number of players, it was the Citizens who kept the game in their favour.

In a game that needed all of Manchester City’s championship calibre, Kevin De Bruyne shone the brightest. When the Belgian player linked with replacement Erling Haaland in the 75th minute, the hosts believed they had grabbed the lead, but VAR determined he was just barely offside.

That appeared to be City’s last opportunity of the contest when De Bruyne won a penalty in stoppage time. He delegated the task to Haaland, who executed flawlessly from 12 yards out to secure a crucial three points for his team.

Positives

Early on, Pep Guardiola’s team was down to 10 men, but they managed to maintain control, and in the end, they were rewarded. De Bruyne also appears to be in the kind of shape that was essential to their league championship triumph the previous season.

Negatives

Cancelo made things tough for his squad with an unwarranted challenge, turning what appeared to be a simple afternoon into a full day’s effort for the rest of his comrades.

Manager evaluation

7-year-old Pep Guardiola Despite being down a player, Manchester City appeared to keep control, and Guardiola didn’t panic as he only made two substitutes before the end of regulation.

Player evaluations (1–10; 10 = best;

no ranking for players who are introduced after 70 minutes)
GK Ederson, age 6 Ederson didn’t have much to do because Fulham didn’t provide many shots on goal during open play.

3 year old Joao Cancelo In a game that City were winning at the time he received his marching orders, a sending off and a penalty left his team with nothing to play for.

(6) Nathan Ake had to put in a lot of effort since the opponent sent a lot of players on the counterattack down the sides, but they frequently managed to hold their own.

6 Manuel Akanji – When given an opportunity just before halftime, Akanji wasted no time in hitting Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno with a free header.

DF (7) John Stones consistently stretched the ball down the right wing with runs that were challenging for Fulham to intercept. Stones almost earned an assist when he curled a perfect cross in the direction of Haaland, a Norwegian international, but the latter failed to connect with his shot.