Fulham 1-2 Manchester City: Stunning Julian Alvarez goal propels Pep Guardiola’s men to the top

There is a great temptation that this is about Erling Haaland again. Bringing up half a century of goals, rewriting history, displaying a blatant disrespect for the competitiveness of the Premier League.

And there will be time for him. But in the wider context of Manchester City’s season, and this pursuit of a fifth title in six years, Sunday was an important milestone.

Not that they topped the league for the first time since February – or, more amazingly, only on the 15th day of the campaign – but that City did so while negotiating a major scare, ending with bookings for wasted time and minor complaints among themselves.

A day when there were regular sharp breaths from the bench, a day when the opponent’s goalkeeper was a world player and the game pattern just wasn’t right.

A day when they refused to give up a second equalizer, leaving West London with an eighth win in a row. A day Arsenal hoped for and ended with a disappointed frown.

A lot of the talk since Wednesday night, and that beating from the Gunners, has been about how this is just a done deal now. Fulham had other ideas because, as people often forget, this division is actually full of excellent football teams.

If City goes back to parade the crown – with who knows how many other trophies at the moment – then Haaland will have proved the difference. As if breaking Mohamed Salah’s league record wasn’t enough, here he equaled Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole’s 34 back as the top 22 teams owned.

Getting to 50 in all competitions is nothing short of absurd and if the Norwegian comes close to Dixie Dean’s 65 then City joins in with a shout from that Treble. Haaland has done this by constantly showing contempt for what lies ahead, crossing the line and going long without a care, and making up for the rest with easy singles. He has ridiculed Our League.

Haaland finished this for City’s support and bought corners with his power as they just saw this. Collapse on the turf when Simon Hooper exploded. Far removed from the past. It took three minutes for Haaland to pound the inside of Bernd Leno’s net.

From the spot, aggressively pushing away the penalty into an unattainable corner, driving off to celebrate his season’s glory in one moment.

Admitting that was a shame from Fulham’s perspective. Tim Ream – who later left the scene with what appeared to be a nasty arm injury – desperately stretched out a leg as Julian Alvarez wriggled into the box.

And so the away section sang in the sun for the next 10 minutes, combing through a repertoire of new chants formed two weeks ago at Munich’s Bierkellers. When City are in the lead they rarely give up ground.

Yet they did here. Marco Silva pushed his midfield higher, sending City out with more urgency and if they won it back, Harrison Reed stepped in as the reserve man to work an uncertain corridor between Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji.

The equalizer, made by beauty and finished with a brutal half volley from Carlos Vinicius, shocked the visitors. Akanji should have followed Harry Wilson’s clever diagonal dart from an Andreas Pereira clip. From there, Wilson struck back thoughtfully and Vinicius ripped off the leather.

Although City got plenty of room to run in the final third, City didn’t stop romping. Their build-up was a bit of a stop-start, a result of Kevin De Bruyne’s absence and not cashing in on half-spaces. Still, Leno was a busy man. His personal collection glittered.

Jack Grealish, who really took the constant beating from Tete in a fight that left Silva one-on-one, thought he had City’s second when he sliced ​​in – as he does – and sent a shot into the top corner . Somehow Leno tapped that on his bar. His legs thwarted Ilkay Gundogan once he was through and Grealish was thwarted two more times.

Despite this, Guardiola will not have felt a strong sense of control. Fulham regularly took possession in the middle third, breaking pace and putting considerable pressure on the back three. Proof of this came after half time, when John Stones returned to center half on a more consistent basis.

Before that, City had the lead again, nine minutes before the header. Alvarez did this all the time for River Plate, punching out of nowhere. He often watched from 80 feet and thought, “why not?” Balls would come from everywhere. Not so much at City, where that extra pass is the capstone of a game plan that so many just can’t fathom.

But here, with the 1-1, Alvarez wondered. Riyad Mahrez’s ball brought them close to the 18-yard box. Alvarez gyrated away from some of the defenders and eyed it just over to Leno’s top right corner. The shot looked like it had started halfway up the stand, but looped, dipped, and bowed at the same time. A blast.

These should have been the easy games for City, proving that the Premier League is just a pageant from now on. A game against a team that had nothing to play for, who lost six of their previous seven after such an exciting night against Arsenal. It doesn’t work that way, not even for this team and this manager.

Fulham – without Pereira, on a stretcher with a head wound – went on, screaming for a penalty as Kyle Walker charged over Bobby De Cordova-Reid in what Hooper believed was his shoulder.

Ederson, whose performances have improved dramatically in recent weeks, clawed at Vinicius’s feet superbly as the Brazilian looked sure to equalize again.

Safe from another excellent Leno stop, a sharp move to the right to negate Haaland – and then again from Alvarez – City didn’t create much. But they get the job done, with the help of the patient Bernardo Silva from the bench, and march on.