Kovacic bags brace as Manchester City come from behind to edge Fulham in Premier League
There were early goals aplenty in the PL today, and City can count themselves mightily unlucky that they didn’t get in on the act themselves.
Both Ilkay Gundogan and Erling Haaland went close in the opening stages, but it was Fulham who worked a gilt-edged opening.
Raul Jimenez’s measured outside-of-the-boot pass freed Adama Traore, but the legs of Ederson kept City on level terms.
However, that was only a temporary reprieve for the hosts, who were soon behind when a deft Jimenez flick teed up Andreas Pereira to volley Fulham ahead.
The South Londoners’ advantage should’ve become two almost straight after when a swift counter ended with Alex Iwobi laying the ball on a plate for Traore, who could only lift his effort over the bar.
Marco Silva’s men were left to rue that miss a matter of seconds later when for all their easy-on-the-eye football, a classic smash-and-grab goal drew City level, as Mateo Kovacić’s thunderous effort from the edge of the area deflected in off Joachim Andersen.
Kovacic had only scored two Premier League goals for City prior to today, but he matched that tally here when inside two minutes of the restart, the Croatian guided into the corner from the edge of the area.
But in almost identical fashion to the first half, Fulham almost hit back when a hopeful ball in behind was latched onto by Traore, who after resuming his duel with Ederson, was again thwarted by the legs of the Brazilian.
The Cottagers continued to probe and again came close when a last-ditch block denied Jiménez a goal in a fourth successive PL game.
Their chances of getting back into the game were seemingly extinguished, and in some style too, as Jeremy Doku stepped in off the left and unleashed an absolute rasper into the top-right corner beyond a desperate Bernd Leno dive.
Fulham handed themselves a late lifeline when Rodrigo Muniz swivelled in the area and found the top corner, but that was no more than a consolation, as City held on to stretch their unbeaten league run to 30 matches, while their competitive undefeated home run inside 90 minutes now stands at a whopping 50 games.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mateo Kovacic (Manchester City)
