Erling Haaland came off the bench to score a stoppage-time penalty that broke the hearts of every Fulham player as 10-man Manchester City beat The Cottagers 2-1 to move back to the top of the Premier League standings on Saturday (5). Report and free match highlights.
Julian Alvarez opened the scoring in front on 17 minutes for Manchester City before the Citizens were reduced to 10 men when Joao Cancelo was sent off in the 26th minute and Fulham awarded a penalty. Andreas Pereira converted the spot kick to make it 1-1 before halftime, but the travelers never pushed for a winner, despite playing with the extra man.
In the end, Fulham were made to pay for not being brave enough to go for a winner as Haaland restored Manchester City’s lead by converting his penalty underneath Bernd Leno with almost the last kick of the game.
“Really nervous [for the penalty]. It is about getting though the situation in the proper way and that is what I did,” Haaland told BBC Sport. “I don’t care how it went it, it is about it going in. Amazing feeling.
“For me it was about coming in with some energy and try and get a goal because these three points are really important. It was about trying to get it and that is what we did.
“When you go 10 v 11 for 70 minutes it is difficult, I don’t think any team would do it as good as we did it today. I was one week out and finally I am back. A good feeling.”
With the three points, Manchester City moved back to the top of the Premier League standings above Arsenal by a point. The Gunners play on Sunday.
