Haaland scores hattrick as Man City runs riot against Fulham

Man City run riot as Haaland scores a hattrick || Photo Credit: Imago

Haaland scores hattrick as Man City runs riot against Fulham

Stephen Oladehinde 17:13 - 02.09.2023

Manchester City devoured Fulham in their fourth Premier League game of the season as they continue their title charge.

Pep Guardiola’s men are yet to lose any game this season, winning their first three opening Premier League games.

Fulham were looking to build on their inspired draw against Arsenal and their EFL Cup win against Tottenham.

However, the Citizens were too strong for them as they fell to a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Man City at the Etihad.

Man City took the lead in the first half from Alvarez's opener but conceded an equaliser through Raul Jimenez before taking the lead again from Nathan Ake’s header.

In the second half, Erling Haaland scored a hat trick to give his side a comfortable victory over Fulham.

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As it happened

Manchester City made three changes to the side that defeated Sheffield United last week Sunday.

Manuel Akanji and Phil Foden recovered from a gastric illness that hampered them both last week while Josko Gvardiol dropped to the bench.

Jack Grealish was left out of the squad entirely for the game while Jeremy Doku makes his City debut in place of Bernardo Silva.

Fulham made four changes after beating Tottenham on penalties in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.

Bernd Leno, Andreas Pereira and Raul Jimenez are back in the starting line-up while Tim Ream also returns after suspension.

However, new signing Alex Iwobi was not in the squad after completing his move from Everton on transfer deadline day

Man City started the game with a low intensity but later created their first chance in the 31st minute of the game.

Erling Haaland was found behind the defence for a fluffed shot that fell perfectly for Alvarez to fire home for the opening goal.

Alvarez scores City's first goal of the game || Photo Credit: Imago
Alvarez scores City's first goal of the game || Photo Credit: Imago

Two minutes after opening the scoring, they were pegged back by Fulham when they won a corner that was met on the volley by Raul Jimenez. 

Ederson could only get down to push the ball up but Tim Ream reacted fast to finish from close range.

Gurdiola’s men did not back down and took the lead again when Nathan Ake headed the ball into the net from a corner.

However, VAR got involved in the goal because Manuel Akanji was offside as he stepped over the ball. The check was completed and VAR awarded the goal to Man City who took the lead into the half-time break.

The second half started and Man City became more threatening and created a chance to score their third goal.

Julian Alvarez who was 30 yards from goal flicked a pass and sent Erling Haaland in behind the Fulham defence and slotted the ball home.

Shortly after they got the fourth goal after Erling Haaland made no mistake, smacking the ball into the top corner and Bernd Leno went the wrong way.

The referee blew the final whistle of the game as Man City made it four wins out of four Premier League games.

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