Fulham 0-3 Manchester City: Sergio Aguero scores first league goal in over year

Sergio Aguero’s last goal in the Premier League was against Sheffield United 417 days ago

Sergio Aguero scored his first Premier League goal since January 2020 when Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League with a win over Fulham.

The result shows that Pep Guardiola’s team is 17 points ahead at the summit. Second-placed Manchester United have two games in hand.

For the cottagers, this means a dent in their hopes for survival after missing the opportunity to get out of the bottom three positions. This is compounded by the fact that they have played more games than Brighton and Newcastle – the teams right above them.

It looked like a close affair as Fulham tested a heavily modified city side in a relatively balanced first phase.

However, John Stones hit Joao Cancelo’s free-kick two minutes after the break before Gabriel Jesus benefited from a poor defense against home goalkeeper Alphonse Areola for the second time.

And after the game was under control, Aguero rounded off the goal with a penalty after Tosin Adarabioyo fouled Ferran Torres.

City roll on

Guardiola ‘very happy’ with Man City’s performance

While Fulham manager Scott Parker decided to start without a recognized center forward, there were surprises in the city from XI onwards.

Guardiola opted for a three-man defense, while Jesus and Aguero were deployed together in advance for the first time since February 2020.

If it was designed to add some sharpness in attack to a city site that lacks the creativity of Raheem Sterling, Kevin de Bruyne, and Ilkay Gundogan, it didn’t seem to have worked at first.

A Torres snapshot and Bernardo Silva’s low commitment after a short run were the highlights of a performance in the first half that lacked cohesion.

Aguero, the fourth-highest scorer in Premier League history, also got off to a bad start to the evening, touching the ball less often than either goalkeeper in the first half.

But after the break everything changed, both luck and design.

Cancelo’s curling free kick put Stones through a static Fulham defense to bump home before Joachim Andersen’s clearance from Ivan Cavaleiro ricocheted off to send Jesus through for a simple second and Aguero had the final say.

Fulham architects of their own downfall

“Sloppy” mistakes cost us – Parker

Guardiola had spoken ardently of Parker before the game, and for the first 45 minutes it was easy to see why.

Rejuvenated by recent results, including a great win at champions Liverpool, the Cottagers seemed like a squad that had won their last six games by an aggregate score of 18-0.

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Harrison Reed, Kenny Tete and Ola Aina did well in their defensive work at the other end of the field, although there was a noticeable gap at the apex of their attack.

But in just 15 minutes in the second half, the game was over, largely due to the kind of mistakes Parker and his players worked hard to fix.

Tosin’s failure to respond to Cancelo’s free kick and Andersen’s mistake on the second goal were particularly atypical for players who set the defensive platform for Fulham’s recent improvement.

Another problem for Parker is that his side have now lost five of their last seven Premier League games at Craven Cottage. That problem needs to be resolved if they are to keep their top status, starting with the visit to Leeds on Friday.

“We are in a good place” – what they said

Fulham boss Scott Parker said of the BBC Match of the Day: “Disappointing. There’s no denying that the mistakes we revealed for the goals were sloppy.

“You are playing against a team that can injure you at any moment in the game. You have to be on. That is probably the deciding factor in the game.

“The season is not determined by the team we played tonight and the quality they have. I wanted to make an impression individually and we did that individually. We will dust each other off and move on.”

“This is the part of the season where trophies and rewards are won. It is the essence. It is the defining moment. We understand that. It is the home track for us. We are in a good place and we will do it. We will do it.” . ” continue.”

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in conversation with BBC Sport: “We knew [would be difficult]. They just look at Fulham’s latest results where they haven’t conceded a goal. We are doing well. In 90 minutes we were generally so solid and we won again.

“You defended very well from man to man. We did it at the right moment and I am very pleased with all the players and the commitment of the players in the dressing room before the game. We are now traveling to Budapest and preparing for another one Final before we prepare for the FA Cup quarter-finals.

“I will arrive safely [with a fit squad] in Budapest by rotating. Sometimes the players don’t believe me, I want everyone to be involved. Sometimes it is difficult, but everyone has to do their part to win games and we will fight as best we can at the end of the season. “

The spark of the city against promoted clubs

• Manchester City have won each of their last eight away games, scoring 22 goals, while conceding just three goals this run.
• Fulham have lost five of their last seven Premier League games at Craven Cottage (W1 D1) while also failing to score in seven of their last nine home league games.
• Manchester City have won their last seven games with Fulham in all competitions with a total score of 21-0. This is now the longest joint winning streak against a single opponent without conceding a goal (also 7 against Wigan between 2010 and 2013).
• Manchester City have only lost one of their last 36 Premier League games with promoted players (W28 D7), a 3-2 defeat at Norwich in September 2019.
• This was Fulham’s 20th Premier League defeat under Scott Parker, meaning the Cottagers have now lost 51% of their games under him in competition (P39 W8 D11 L20).
• Man City defender John Stones has only scored one goal in his first 170 Premier League games and has scored four in his last ten games since then.
• Gabriel Jesus was directly involved in 95 goals in his 114 starts in all competitions for Manchester City (73 goals, 22 assists), scored eight goals and assisted another in his last 10 starts.
• Sergio Aguero has completed a run of 13 games, 641 minutes of play and 24 shots without a goal in the Premier League for Man City. His penalty against Fulham was his first league goal since January 2020 against Sheff Utd 417 days ago.
• Sergio Aguero (15) and Gabriel Jesus (nine) have scored 24 goals in their 13 Premier League starts for Manchester City. The citizens won 11 and did not lose any of these 13 league games when both were in the starting XI (D2).

What’s next?

Fulham welcomes Leeds United to Craven Cottage for their next Premier League game on Friday March 19th (8:00 p.m. GMT).

Manchester City will play the home game of the Champions League in the round of 16 against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Tuesday, March 16 (8:00 p.m.) in the Puskas Arena in Budapest. City will then travel to Everton on Saturday March 20th (5:30 pm) to play in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Player of the game

Rúben DiasRúben Dias

Fulham

1. Cadre number21Playernamereed

2. Cadre number1PlayernameAreola

3. Cadre number5PlayernameAndersen

4. Cadre number34Playernamealways

5. Cadre number16PlayernameIndeed

6. Cadre number19thPlayernameLook man

7. Cadre number15thPlayernameLoftus cheek

8. Cadre number2PlayernameTete

9. Cadre number29PlayernameZambo Anguissa

10. Cadre number18thPlayernameLemina

11. Cadre number17thPlayernameKnight

12. Cadre number33PlayernameRobinson

13. Cadre number9PlayernameMitrovic

14. Cadre number25thPlayernameOnomah

Constellations

Fulham

formation 4-3-3

1Areola

2Tete5Andersen16Indeed34always

29Zambo Anguissa21reed18thLemina

19thLook man15thLoftus cheek17thKnight

• 1Areola
• 2Tete
• 5Andersen
• 16Indeed
• 34always
• 29Zambo Anguissa
• 21reed
• 18thLeminaReplaced byOnomahat the 73 ‘protocol
• 19thLook man
• 15thLoftus cheekReplaced byMitrovicat the 63 ‘protocol
• 17thKnightReplaced byRobinsonat the 80 ‘protocol

replacement

• 3bullying
• 9Mitrovic
• 13thRies
• 23Bryan
• 25thOnomah
• 27Can
• 30thKongolo
• 31Fabri
• 33Robinson

Man City

formation 3-4-3

31Ederson

5Stones3Rúben Dias14thLaporte

27Cancel20thBernardo Silva16Rodri22ndMendy

21Torres10omen9Gabriel Jesus

• 31Ederson
• 5Stones
• 3Rúben DiasReplaced byGarciaat the 75 ‘protocol
• 14thLaporte
• 27Cancel
• 20thBernardo SilvaReplaced byFernandinhoat the 67 ‘protocol
• 16Rodri
• 22ndMendy
• 21Torres
• 10omen
• 9Gabriel Jesus

replacement

• 2Walking aid
• 8thGündogan
• 11Zinchenko
• 13thSteffen
• 17thDe Bruyne
• 25thFernandinho
• 26thMahrez
• 47Foden
• 50Garcia

Live text

1. End of the game, Fulham 0, Manchester City 3.

2. The second half ends, Fulham 0, Manchester City 3.

3. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

4. Foul by Harrison Reed (Fulham).

5. Attempt blocked. Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham) right footed shot from the center of the box is blocked. Prepared by André-Frank Zambo Anguissa.

6. Corner of Fulham. The corner was caused by Aymeric Laporte.

7. Attempt blocked. Josh Onomah (Fulham) left footed shot from the center of the box is blocked. Assisted by Aleksandar Mitrovic with a through ball.

8. Substitution, Fulham. Antonee Robinson replaces Ivan Cavaleiro.

9. Foul by Rodrigo (Manchester City).

10. Ademola Lookman (Fulham) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

11. Foul by Rodrigo (Manchester City).

12. André-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Fulham) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

13. Substitution, Manchester City. Eric García replaces Rúben Dias.

14. Substitution, Fulham. Josh Onomah replaces Mario Lemina.

15. Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) wins a free kick on the left wing.

16. Foul by Joachim Andersen (Fulham).

17. Rodrigo (Manchester City) wins a free kick on the left wing.

18. Foul by André-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Fulham).

19. Substitution, Manchester City. Fernandinho replaces Bernardo Silva.

20. Foul by Sergio Agüero (Manchester City).