Fulham 4 – 5 Man City

Man City needed Josko Gvardiol’s goal-line clearance in injury-time to survive a remarkable second-half Fulham fightback and edge a nine-goal thriller at Craven Cottage.

Having trailed 5-1, Fulham fought back superbly with three unanswered goals, and nearly completed what would have been a scarcely-believable comeback in the 97th minute only for Gvardiol to hook Josh King’s effort off the line.

It all seemed routine for City, who are now just two points behind league leaders Arsenal. Erling Haaland netted his 100th Premier League goal to open the floodgates. Tijjani Reijnders added a second soon after, before Phil Foden made it three as half-time beckoned. However, Emile Smith-Rowe gave Fulham a glimmer of hope in added time of the first half.

City picked it back up after the break when Foden scored his second, three minutes after the restart, to seemingly burst Fulham’s bubble. When Jeremy Doku’s deflected strike went in off Sander Berge the game appeared far beyond doubt in the 54th minute.

However, when Alex Iwobi fired in from the edge of the box, the atmosphere in west London changed.

Fulham smelled blood, knowing City gave away a two-goal lead against Leeds on Saturday before Foden’s late winner. Half-time substitute Samuel Chukwueze rifled in a third for Fulham and within six minutes, the Nigeria international had another.

A lengthy VAR check gave the game its only breather as six minutes were needed to assess whether there was an offside before Chukwueze’s second sensational effort.

Despite a valiant Fulham effort though and eight minutes of injury time added on, City held on and now move within touching distance of Arsenal, who take on Brentford on Wednesday night, live on Sky.

Pep: I wouldn’t have believed Haaland’s scoring numbers

Man City boss Pep Guardiola said he wouldn’t have believed Erling Haaland’s goalscoring numbers had he been told the Norwegian striker would take just 111 games to score a Premier League century ahead of time.

He said: “If you told me he would score 100 goals in 111 goals, I would say: ‘Are you sure? In this league?’

“There have been some of the best strikers in this country, he’s one of them but not the best.

“It’s a question of numbers and his are not in discussion. I’m happy for him, and that the team delivered this day for him.”

Silva: We are going to take the positives

Fulham deserved a last-gasp equaliser which would have rescued a four-goal comeback against Man City on Tuesday, insisted head coach Marco Silva.

“If you talk about character, of course, what they showed was impressive,” he said.

“Normally if you’re losing with a heavy score, home or away, against a side like City, many things can come in the mind.

“After the fifth City goal, you want to react but can be thinking the damage is there and it’s better not to take risks and make things worse.

“The reaction was unbelievable from the boys, the fans too, and from it we probably deserved the fifth goal.”

Story of the match in stats…

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