Manchester City 5-1 Fulham: Erling Haaland scores ANOTHER hat-trick as Pep Guardiola’s side dismantle visitors after controversial Nathan Ake goal in the first half

Manchester City don’t really need any help at the moment. Still, no one is better at taking advantage of the breaks that come their way.

Taking on the three-time winners at The Etihad is not without its challenges at the best of times. And Fulham are not having the best of times.

They were already without their best player, Joao Palhinha, who had spent Friday night in Munich posing in Bayern’s kit before his dream transfer fell through. He was obviously unavailable and to get the long months leading up to January in order now you need a master motivator.

As such, the task was already unenviable even before captain Tom Cairney, key to Fulham’s game plan, was limping after 16 minutes.

Then they conceded after 31 minutes despite neutering City and new signing Jeremy Doku. Mateo Kovacic’s through ball, Erling Haaland’s run and assist – although it looked suspiciously like a misfire – for Julian Alvarez were enough to get their usual foothold in the game.

Julian Alvarez scored in his third successive home game to open the occasion with 31 minutes left at the Etihad

Haaland scored a second-half hat-trick in the week he was crowned UEFA’s Player of the Season for his performances last season

But even then, Fulham refused to fold and equalized within a minute. Raul Jimenez tapped Andreas Pereira’s corner to Bobby De Cordova-Reid, whose shot was saved by Ederson, but turned into the waiting path of Tim Ream at the far post, who tapped in from three yards out to make it 1-1.

But as for rowdy boys, that’s mid-table teams at Manchester City: they kill them for their sport. And if the umpire gods are also like-minded, there’s really no hope.

This is how Marco Silva and Fulham will think about the decisive moment of this match. Having survived the first half pretty much not only with tact, but also putting in a disciplined tactical performance that left City with not inconsiderable discomfort, they experienced the rough end of the rule book.

We were in the last and fifth minute of stoppage time of the first half when Phil Foden kicked in a corner kick and Nathan Ake charged it hard to put the bottom corner up 2-1. Yet Manuel Akanji was two meters offside just in front of ‘keeper Bernd Leno.

He feinted—perhaps to get out of the way? – but also stuck out a leg – right after the ball passed him, possibly? – but he was a gigantic, thumping presence right in the ‘keeper’s line of sight.

It’s hard for people of a certain generation not to remember Bill Shankly’s point of view. “If a player isn’t interfering with play, what the hell is he doing on the field?” It seems apparently unfair that Leno had to wait to see if Akanji, clearly offside, would make his move before taking any action. In general, the rules should favor the attacking parties. Still, this defied common sense.

Certainly the Fulham players and Silva felt that way. Referee Michael Oliver consulted with his assistant but awarded the goal and was not invited to watch the incident as VAR Tony Harrington saw no obvious foul.

But most of the rest of the Etihad did when the helpful video screen operator replayed the goal, and Fulham flew into a rage and begged Oliver to take a look, which of course he couldn’t by now.

Norway’s goal machine made up for his 12-yard mistake against Sheffield United last time by sending Bernd Leno the wrong way

Marco Silva was left seething after Nathan Aké’s goal put City ahead before the break – with a lengthy VAR check in favor of City

Despite the quick equalizer through defender Tim Ream, it was a cleansing day at the office for the West London team

Adama Traore came off the bench for a late cameo to replace Harry Wilson in attack for the final 10 minutes of the encounter

With City in a dominant position, Juanma Lillo was able to give several youngsters a few minutes, including Oscar Bobb

At one point it looked like the game would not resume, that’s how animated Fulham was. When that happened, Fulham assistant Luis Boa Morte rolled a second ball down the pitch twice to slow the ball even further, presumably hoping some respite would be found.

Those are the breaks that make your life almost impossible when you’re Fulham. After that, the second half was completely predictable. On 58 minutes, Rodri played a through ball that touched Alvarez which went into Erling’s Haaland path via Ream and the conclusion was inevitable, Leno stretched in vain to keep the blow out.

The fourth will only have increased Fulham’s sense of displeasure, via a penalty from Haaland. Alvarez did his sprint and shoot thing that so confused the defenders, and Issa Diop, the wrong side of him, panicked and shoved. The penalty kick was awarded, taken and scored by Haaland, who also needs no extra help.

Poor Fulham. Just when it looked like they could come up with something respectable, Sergio Gomez used the final seconds of stoppage time to run left, turning his defender inside out, before pulling away for Haaland and his seventh City hat-trick scored just over a minute later. years after he arrived. 5-1 the archives will say, but that only tells a fraction of the story.

Fulham had put in a decent tactical performance in the first half, giving City some discomfort, with Ream paying off the fruits of their efforts.