Man City Survive Fulham Madness as Haaland Hits 100 and Foden Bags a Brace in Wild 5–4 Thriller
Manchester City clung on for dear life in a bonkers nine-goal scrap at Craven Cottage, edging Fulham 5–4 as Erling Haaland smashed his 100th Premier League goal and Phil Foden kept his hot streak rolling. But while Pep Guardiola’s side left west London with three points, the defending was so ropey it’ll give the Catalan sleepless nights.
Haaland ended his mini drought — three games without a goal is basically a crisis by his standards — by thumping home a Jeremy Doku cross after earlier cracking the post. It was the Norwegian’s century in record time, and he wasn’t done there. Moments later he held the ball up nicely to slide in Tijjani Reijnders for 2–0. Classic Haaland: batter, score, assist, repeat.
Foden, still buzzing after rescuing the win against Leeds, joined the party on the stroke of half-time. Bernd Leno spilled a cross straight into trouble and Foden leathered the loose ball home from distance. Job done? Not quite. City switched off in stoppage time and let Emile Smith Rowe nod Fulham back into it.
City then burst out firing after the restart, with Foden adding his second before a Doku strike deflected in off Sander Berge to make it 5–1. That should have buried the game. Instead, it cracked the lid off even more chaos. Alex Iwobi whipped in a lovely strike for 5–2, then Samuel Chukwueze — who’d barely made a dent in English football before today — bagged a quick-fire brace to drag Fulham within one. Suddenly City was hanging on like a pub team protecting a cup upset.
As the clock ticked down, nerves shredded. Guardiola stalked the touchline fuming, his side clearing corners with all the certainty of a man trying to escape quicksand. But somehow they made it, scraping across the line to move within two points of Arsenal, who still have a game in hand.
Player Ratings
GK & Defence
Gianluigi Donnarumma – 5
Never looked settled. Flapped at corners and helped gift Chukwueze his second. Needs to command his area miles better.
Matheus Nunes – 5
Switching off at key moments again. For a stand-in right-back, this was another reminder City badly need a proper one.
Rúben Dias – 5
Played Fulham onside for their third and didn’t organise the back line like a leader should.
Joško Gvardiol – 5
Only woke up defensively in the final minutes. Wasted a sitter at the other end too.
Nico O’Reilly – 5
Bombed on far too often and got caught out leaving gaps. Young, but needs to tidy that up.
Midfield
Bernardo Silva – 5
Bright early on, faded badly. Legs went and should’ve been hooked earlier.
Nico González – 6
Lost the ball a couple times but City’s collapse after he went off said everything.
Tijjani Reijnders – 6
Took his goal calmly and involved in plenty of City’s better moves.
Attack
Phil Foden – 8
Two more goals and the heartbeat of the team right now. Dragging City through games.
Erling Haaland – 8
Reached 100, grabbed two assists (one accidentally), and bullied Fulham all afternoon. Should’ve scored earlier but he was still immense.
Jeremy Doku – 7
Much livelier than against Leeds. A goal contribution factory before being subbed off.
Subs & Manager
John Stones – 5
City lost control once he stepped into midfield. Not his role, really.
Savinho – 5
A late tackle and a messy dribble out of danger summed up a nervy cameo.
Rayan Cherki – N/A
Barely involved other than a booking.
Pep Guardiola – 6
Will be raging about the defending. Took González off too early and it nearly cost him. But a win’s a win — just about.
What it Means
City stay within striking distance of Arsenal but look nothing like the ruthless machine from seasons past. If they keep defending like this, every match is going to feel like a lottery ticket. Next up: Brentford on Wednesday for Arsenal — and City praying for a favour.