Classy City show struggling Fulham they are the ones with a genuine touch of style
SCOTT PARKER sported his lucky blazer again at Craven Cottage. It is a soft, quilted item, a snug fit that he wears over a gilet. It makes him look a little as if he should be holding a glass of Pimms and cheering on a crew at the Henley Royal Regatta.
Sadly for him and his team, the luck got sucked out of it against Manchester City. All it got him and his relegation-threatened side was a dressing down.
On the eve of the game, City’s manager Pep Guardiola had smiled when it was suggested that Parker was his sartorial equal. ‘He is younger,’ he said. ‘He has hair. He is better than me. I accept a draw.’
That last bit would only have been true if this had been a fashion show but unfortunately for Fulham, it was a football match and City were in no mood to accept a share of the spoils. After a goalless first half, the runaway Premier League leaders overpowered Fulham with three strikes in 10 minutes.
It was City’s 13th consecutive away victory in all competitions and moved them 17 points clear of Manchester United at the top of the table. They need 14 points from their last eight games to be sure of the title. They are cruising.
This was a good night for them in every way. They rested a galaxy of first-choice players and still won comfortably, and Sergio Aguero scored his first Premier League goal since January 2020 with a penalty to end a dispiriting spell. John Stones and Gabriel Jesus got the other goals in a comfortable win.
If City are still in the hunt for four trophies, Fulham’s eyes are fixed only on the prize of staying in the top flight and this result left their position unchanged. Newcastle and Brighton are still in their sights and they played well enough in the first half to suggest they should stay optimistic.
West Brom’s defeat at Crystal Palace earlier in the day had all but confirmed that only Fulham of the bottom three have a realistic chance of escaping relegation and they went into the match still brimming with the confidence that came with beating Liverpool at Anfield last weekend and basking in the glory of that for the last six days. They started the game well. One early ball from Ivan Cavaleiro behind the City defence and into the path of Ademola Lookman was a thing of beauty, spoiled only by the fact that Lookman had strayed marginally offside.
It was City, though, who forged the first clear chance. Joao Cancelo slipped a neat ball through to Ferran Torres in the 17th minute and even though Torres was clean through on Alphonse Areola, his shot was weak and too close to the goalkeeper.
But even if City began to dominate, even if Stones looked wonderfully assured in possession every time he glided forward, City were not playing with their usual fluency.
Aguero was close to anonymous, Torres struggled to make an impact, Jesus seemed unsure how to link best with Aguero. City must make a decision on the Argentine’s future
soon. He is 32, he will be out of contract in the summer and he had not scored in the league for 13 months. That statistic does not take into account a bout of Covid-19 and a hamstring injury but many feel his time at the club is coming to an end.
That decision will be complicated by Aguero’s status at City. He is a club legend. Many believe he is the greatest player who has ever worn the club shirt, others that he is the greatest foreign player to have graced the league. He is, incontrovertibly, the greatest goalscorer in City’s history and the man who scored the goal that won them the title in 2012.
But he has started only four games this season and, before this match, played only 171 minutes since returning to fitness on November 23. City are being linked with high-profile replacements.
He led City out at Craven Cottage but struggled to make an impact in the first half. He was largely starved of service and while it is the nature of his game that he can explode into a match in a moment, he cut a disconsolate figure when he trudged off at half-time.
The second half was less than two minutes old when City took the lead. Jesus was fouled on the left and Cancelo curled the free-kick and when the Fulham defence allowed it to bounce, Stones forced his way through to stab the ball past Areola.
Stones celebrated with gusto. It is not the first important goal he has scored this season — it was his fourth in the last 10 league games — and it was another staging post in the impressive renaissance that has seen him re-establish himself in the City side and go back to the front of the queue when Gareth Southgate is selecting his England defenders for the European Championships.
Bernardo Silva then wriggled past several challenges near the corner flag and laid the ball back into the path of Rodri, who could only drill it straight at Areola.
Ten minutes into the half, Cavaleiro played Joachim Andersen into trouble and when the Dane stretched to tackle Jesus, the ball rebounded off Cavaleiro into the path of the City forward. Jesus dribbled round Areola and smashed the ball into the net. Five minutes after that, the leaders put the game out of reach.
Torres ran at former City academy product Tosin Adarabioyo and when the two came together, the Spaniard fell and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. It was Aguero’s chance. He stepped up and lashed it past Areola.