Man City 3-0 Fulham: A 3-goal win for City keeps their title hope alive

Game is over and the final score is Man City 3-0 Fulham. Here is the match report.

Match Report

Manchester City cut Arsenal's lead at the top of the Premier League table to three points with a comfortable 3-0 win over Fulham at the Etihad Stadium.

Having rallied from 1-0 down to defeat Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, Pep Guardiola's men did not pass up the chance to pile more pressure on the Gunners, who face Brentford on Thursday.

City dominated from the first whistle and went ahead in the 24th minute, with Antoine Semenyo turning home on the stretch when Matheus Nunes' cross struck Sander Berge and dropped into his path.  

Semenyo had an assist to go with his goal six minutes later, slipping in Nico O'Reilly to finish on the counter-attack only 51 seconds after Gianluigi Donnarumma had denied Harry Wilson.

The contest was effectively over when Erling Haaland got City's third goal in the 39th minute, scoring his first open-play Premier League goal since December 20 with a pinpoint finish from the edge of the area. 

Haaland was then withdrawn at the interval, and his replacement Omar Marmoush worked Bernd Leno as City hunted a fourth.

The tempo of the game dropped substantially in the second half, and though Emile Smith Rowe, Rodrigo Muniz and Josh King all worked Donnarumma, City held onto their clean sheet in relative comfort.

Data Debrief: Haaland ends open-play drought as Semenyo's hot start continues

The game was effectively over at half-time, with City registering just one shot after the break. Overall, they produced 1.47 expected goals (xG) from 13 shots to Fulham's 1.5, 0.81 of which came in the second half, from 14 attempts.

Haaland's strike was his first non-penalty goal in the competition since netting a brace against West Ham on December 20, ending his longest such drought for City. The Norwegian had 24 non-penalty shots without scoring during that run.

In Haaland and Semenyo, City have two of the three most prolific players in this season's Premier League, and the former Bournemouth man has now registered seven goal involvements against Fulham in the top flight (four goals, three assists).

Since the start of 2024-25, only Haaland against West Ham (eight) has more goal involvements against a specific opponent in the competition than Semenyo versus Fulham.

City's victory was their 17th in a row against Fulham in the Premier League, stretching their record for the longest winning run by any team against another in English league history.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

7' Match Event for Man City vs Fulham

8' Match Event for Man City vs Fulham

10' Match Event for Man City vs Fulham

21' Match Event for Man City vs Fulham

24' GOAL! Man City 1-0 Fulham (Antoine Semenyo)

29' Highlight from Man City vs Fulham

30' GOAL! Man City 2-0 Fulham (Nico O'Reilly)

39' GOAL! Man City 3-0 Fulham (Erling Haaland)

41' Match Event for Man City vs Fulham

41' Highlight from Man City vs Fulham

47' Match Event for Man City vs Fulham

58' Highlight from Man City vs Fulham

66' Highlight from Man City vs Fulham

72' Match Event for Man City vs Fulham

80' Match Event for Man City vs Fulham

84' Highlight from Man City vs Fulham

Line-ups

Man City XI: Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Donnarumma, Rodri, Haaland, Foden, Guehi, Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Matheus Nunes, Nico O'Reilly

Subs: Stones, Omar Marmoush, Reijnders, Nico González, James Trafford, Cherki, Lewis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Max Alleyne

Fulham XI: Leno, Jimenez, Tete, Andersen, Iwobi, Harry Wilson, Berge, Chukwueze, Sessegnon, Smith Rowe, Calvin Bassey

Subs: Benjamin Lecomte, Castagne, Harrison Reed, Antonee Robinson, Jorge Cuenca, Bobb, Rodrigo Muniz, Kevin, Josh King