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Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick as Manchester City maintained their 100% start to the season in some controversial circumstances.
Julian Álvarez tapped home the opener after being played through by Haaland, but Tim Ream equalized within minutes when he latched on to Raul Jiménez’s rebound and poked home.
The visitors went in front at the break after Nathan Aké headed home from Phil Foden’s corner, but the Fulham bench were unhappy with VAR’s decision to disallow the goal after Manuel Akanji, standing in an offside position, appeared to obstruct Bernd Leno’s view. balls.
Haaland’s second-half double wrapped up the points for Pep Guardiola’s side as Álvarez slotted it into the bottom corner from close range.
The Norwegian scored his fourth from the penalty spot to reach 40 goals faster than any player in Premier League history, eclipsing Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer.
Haaland rounded off the scoring with a late goal when he finished off Sergio Gomez’s cut-back to complete his hat-trick.
City have returned to the top of the Premier League with 12 points from four games.
Man City player ratings (4-2-3-1)
GK: Ederson – 5/10 – Perhaps should have done a little better for Fulham’s opener. Wasn’t involved a whole lot outside of that.
RB: Kyle Walker – 6/10 – Nothing special but not a whole lot wrong. Dealt with De Cordova-Reid well enough.
CB: Ruben Dias – 7/10 – Very solid defensively aside from his decision to drag Harry Wilson down by his throat. Fortunate to stay on the pitch but made the most of his continuation.
CB: Manuel Akanji – 6/10 – Akanji’s unpunished offside will be the talking point from this game but he did well enough either side of that moment of controversy.
LB: Nathan Ake – 7/10 – Took his header very well in what was a typically impressive showing from Ake.
DM: Rodri – 6/10 – Not at his best on the ball. Guilty of some sloppy passes but coupled that with some excellent moments of possession. Loves a cynical foul.
DM: Mateo Kovacic – 5/10 – Looked uncomfortable in what ended up being an advanced role. Surprisingly poor with his passing.
RM: Phil Foden – 7/10 – City’s danger man in the first half. Foden looked a threat whenever he got on the ball and was inches away from having a handful of assists.
AM: Julian Alvarez – 7/10 – Nice composure for his simple goal. Struggled to link things up in the first half but created Haaland’s first and won the penalty for his second.
LM: Jeremy Doku – 6/10 – Not involved as much as he would have hoped for his debut. Some real flashes of quality when he did get going, however.
ST: Erling Haaland – 8/10 – A smart assist and three solid goals. It wasn’t even Haaland’s best performance but you can’t argue with the results.
Substitutes
SUB: Bernardo Silva (76′ for Rodri) – 6/10
SUB: Sergio Gomez (76′ for Doku) – 6/10
SUB: Kalvin Phillips (84′ for Kovacic) – N/A
SUB: Rico Lewis (90′ for Alvarez) – N/A
SUB: Oscar Bobb (90′ for Foden) – N/A
Subs not used: Stefan Ortega (GK), Scott Carson (GK), Josko Gvardiol, Matheus Nunes
Manager
Juan Manuel Lillo – 6/10 – In place of the recovering Pep Guardiola, Lillo’s City side were far from their best but their relentless quality in attack carried them over the line.