Man City is fourth, after defeating Fulham

Manchester City continued their return to the squad with another one-sided victory at home, beating Fulham to climb to fourth place in the Premier League table.

Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne put the winning podium, with the latter setting up the former to score the first goal.

The roles were then reversed as the English winger faltered in the penalty area by Joachim Andersen to allow the Belgian midfielder to score from the penalty spot.

The duo could have easily scored four more goals between them but Fulham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola made several good saves, while De Bruyne hit the crossbar with a shot.

This is the first time this season that City has won consecutive league matches and raised them to a place on the table further to preserve a team aspiring to the title.

Fulham spent most of the match fending off attacks, but at least he tried to pose questions to the hosts, as they were He had a much bigger impact in Leicester on Monday.

The eighth defeat this season means the Cottages remain 17th in the table, one point behind West Bromwich and Burnley, both of whom have played a match less.

Pip reaches 700 with the move to City

It was the 700th game for City manager Pep Guardiola as coach, during which he won 29 major titles in 11 seasons, including two Premier League titles with City.

Their inconsistent form in the early stages of this campaign has led some to question whether they will be able to reclaim the English Premier League title, which they ceded to Liverpool last season.

The critics may not be fully won over by successive victories over a much inferior opposition such as Burnley and Fulham, but they cannot deny the ease with which they were attached.

Nor can they ignore the small signs of a return to City’s confident boast, nor the sinister submission to power in both matches by De Bruyne, who scored his first goal in the league since his first-day victory over Wolverhampton and made 14 assists in 2020 – more from any player. Another in the English Premier League.

City was not perfect – it should at least match the score against Burnley – and there are bigger challenges ahead, not least at Manchester United in their next league match, but with some stars rediscovering their level and Sergio Aguero reports soon to return from injury, another challenge is over. The title by Guardiola is in progress.

For Fulham, you can forgive them for viewing this as something of a free-lance success, especially after the second win dented the season’s morale earlier in the week.

It was not possible to determine their season by a match against an opponent who had now defeated them 10 times in a row with a aggregate of 29-3.

They have failed to put in a meaningful effort into goal after Evan Cavallero’s speculative shots, but they will be delighted with the determination and discipline they demonstrated in not collapsing after the sterling’s early opening game.

But things are not easy on Scott Parker’s side. Next: Liverpool are champions.

Guardiola with a win of 72%

• This was the 700th match for Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola in his coaching career (W507 D111 L82), while this was the 250th in all competitions with the Citizens (W179 D34 L37).
• Manchester City have not lost their last 16 games with Fulham in all competitions (W13 D3), and have won the last 10 matches in a row with a score of 29-3.
• Fulham have scored more goals than any other team in the Premier League this season (21), with no team conceding more in different matches than the Cottages (10).
• Manchester City scored many goals during the last two matches in the Premier League and also scored in the last seven matches in the tournament (7).
• It was the first time that Manchester City had not played a single substitute in an English Premier League match since April 2005, in a 2–2 draw with Charlton Athletic.
• Since joining Manchester City in 2015, Kevin De Bruyne has scored and scored in 16 different Premier League matches – no player has done more than that at that time (evenly with Mohamed Salah).
• Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling has won 20 penalties in the Premier League, more than any other player in the history of the tournament.
• Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne has participated in more shots than any other player in the Premier League this season (62-34 shots, 28 chances created), as the Belgian participated in eight shots against Fulham this afternoon (6 shots, two chances created) .