City Come Out Atop a Nine Goal Thriller

 Amar Zukancic

     Aaaaand breathe. In one of the weirdest matches you’ll see all season, City squeak out a 5-4 victory in London against Fulham. Obviously in a match where you score 5 goals and set multiple records there are going to be many standouts, but the consensus around this match amongst fans has been quite the opposite. Overall it was a performance with many highs, and the most important part is we left with the three points after a short turnaround from the long Leeds match.

    The match started fast on the front foot, and after a few minutes Erling Haaland was denied his 100th Premier League goal by the inside of the post. Then after 17 minutes Jeremy Doku sent a picture perfect left footed cross that found the feet of Erling, and in almost a frame for frame replica of his goal against Dortmund a few weeks back, Erling Haaland made history. He set yet another record, being the fastest player to score 100 goals in Premier League history. Haaland broke another one of Alan Shearer’s records, scoring 100 in 13 matches faster than Shearer doing it in 111 compared to Shearer’s 124. Later in the half Haaland slipped through a perfect pass to Tijjani Reijnders who doubled City’s lead, and doubled his league tally for the season. Then right before the stroke of half, Bernd Leno punched out a City cross and it fell to the top of the box. Then the man in form Phil Foden scored another worldie from outside the box and reminded Europe just what type of player he is. Right after half Jeremy Doku sent a perfect pass into the box that fell to Foden who made it back to back braces in the league this week, but it somehow ended up as a Erling Haaland assist. Six minutes after that Doku had a great effort that was heading for the far post, but it took a deflection off of Sander Berge and was marked as an own goal. At this point City were 5-1 up, and it looked like the game was all but over after 54 minutes. 

    The weird part of this match was how Fulham kept themselves in it. Right after Foden’s goal at the end of the first half, Emile Smith Rowe somehow curled a beautiful header past Gianluigi Donnarumma’s far post with one of the best goals you’ll see all season. Then three minutes after City’s fifth, Alex Iwobi scored arguably the goal of the match with a Rodri-esque finish to pull one back for Fulham. After that Samuel Chukwueze scored his first and second Premier League goals nearly identically in quick succession to completely flip the momentum of the match and put Fulham on top. After that it was all Fulham, and after nine minutes of added time, City came out on top. It started off as a good performance, but showed some defensive liabilities within the squad and felt like a match from last season. 

    There were quite a few standouts, but for good and bad reasons. The front three looked amazing. Doku notched another assist, had one stolen from him by Haaland, and probably should’ve had a goal etched next to his name. His rise this season has been nothing short of fantastic, and is the best play we’ve seen from a winger at the club since Raheem Sterling was in his prime. Foden again showed why he is the heart of this club, and continues to build his legacy. Another two goals to his growing career tally, and another signature finish from him coming off of the right hand side of the box and slotting it into the top corner. Haaland was the robot he is, and got himself his 100th goal in the league, and another two assists. He also hit the post twice, denying him a hattrick. He is yet again building up his resume for a potential BallonD’or, and this upcoming match against Madrid will be critical in that push.

    Off of the bench there was also a pair of standouts, one positive and one negative. Rayan Cherki came onto the pitch and won us the game. His control, presence, and skill slowed the game down and got us out of a few sticky situations. He got the ball under lots of pressure but glided across the pitch and eventually got the final touch of the match, clearing out Fulham's final corner kick to win the match. On the downside, Savinho looked just awful. It seems like every cameo he's had this season has been worse than the last, and makes you pull your hair out wondering why Viana didn't take the 70 million from Tottenham. His one footedness cost us Fulham’s fourth, as instead of dribbling up the pitch with his right foot after he won the ball, he took it onto his favored left and tried to go back around the opposition when it was so far out of the way and that gave up the corner than Chukwueze scored his second from. He also once again killed every counter, and showed he’s not up to City’s level. The worst part of all of this is that you know that Marmoush is sitting there on the bench, and at this point you wouldn't blame him if he left in January. 

    Overall while this performance had quite a few worries, it was still a good one. We won our record 16th Premier League match in a row against Fulham dating back to 2011, we scored 5 goals in an away game on a short turnaround, and we left with all three points. The next few matches are big as on Saturday we take on Sunderland for the first time since Pep’s first season at City at home, then next Wednesday we travel to the Bernabeu for the big one.