The Tanner Report: Fulham 1 Manchester City 2
For an hour of this game only inspired goalkeeping by Bernd Leno of Fulham prevented a bigger defeat but by the end, with only a one goal margin, City had to close the game out to get the points.
Fulham can therefore draw satisfaction from their performance against arguably the best team on the planet and we certainly gave them a tougher game than Arsenal who had collapsed 4-1.
The measure of City’s supremacy was reflected in an article in Saturday’s Times by Alyson Rudd in which she doubted any player in any other Premier team would make it into the City side.
On yesterday’s performance Joao Pahlinha might as, if City have any weakness in such an abundance of talent, it is an enforcer in midfield.
When the teams were announced my heart dropped that Vinicius was included as the big Brazilian is no Alex Mitrovic, whose 8 match ban has only two more games to go.
How wrong I was!
After going one down to a penalty converted by Erling Haaland, Harry Wilson nodded a header into the path of Vinicius who took it well to equalise.
Alcaraz restored the lead with a fine shot and at 2-1 City were content to kill the game.
Fulham still have to play Leicester City and Southampton, who might be amongst the dead men by then, plus a Roy Hodgson-rejuvenated Palace and Manchester United so a mid-table position looks assured.
This certainly exceeded our expectations so much credit must go to Marco Silva – as well as Brighton’s Roberto de Zerbi and Brentford’s Thomas Frank – for the positions achieved by their clubs with much smaller squads and budget than the so-called big boys.
