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Manchester City’s resilient 2-1 victory against Fulham at Graven Caltage Stadium allowed them to overtake Arsenal at the top of the English Premier League standings.
The last season’s champions returned to the tip of the table for the first time since February. Thanks to goals from Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez on either side of Fulham’s Calros Vinicius goal.
Riyad Mahrez gave Alvarez possession inside Fulham’s box within the opening 90 seconds but Tim Ream tripped the Argentine with a flailing leg to give away a penalty right away.
Haaland converted the penalty, and even though Bernd Leno predicted his decision well, he was not able to stop the ball from entering the back of the net. The City forward has now scored 50 goals in all competition this year with a record-setting of 34 goals in the Premier League.
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In the 15th minute, Harry Wilson made a sprinting move between the city’s center-backs to receive a long pass from the former Manchester United midfielder, Andreas Pereira. Wilson’s knockdown arrived at Carlos Vinicius’ feet, who made no mistake by sending the ball to the back of the net to tie the score.
Marco Silva’s team gave their opponent team a few scares along the road. However, Ream was substituted in the 21st minute with his arm in an improvised sling. The Fulham’s captain was replaced by Issa Diop.
The visitors attempted to move the ball to Jack Grealish at every chance they get, but the Englishman’s effort to give City the lead in the 27th minute was denied by a deflection of Leno which change the direction of the ball to go over the crossbar.
Nine minutes later, Alvarez sent a powerful shot across Fulham’s keeper’s outstretched arm and into the top corner when confronted by a wall of Fulham’s defenders 20 yards from the goal to help Pep’s team regain the lead.
It was a goalless second half even though both teams tried to get more goals.
Now The Citizens lead Arsenal by one point and have a game in hand before West Ham United visits on Wednesday. Arsenal will be back on the top if they defeat Chelsea on Tuesday.
Teams trailing Manchester City
In another game which was played on Sunday, Manchester United thrashed Aston Villa at Old Trafford 1-0 as they tightened their hold on the top four positions in the Premier League standings.
The Portuguese midfielder and Manchester United second choice captain, Bruno Fernandes scored the only goal of the game.
Read: Manchester United Eliminated Out Of Europa League. What Next?
Manchester United are now in position four due to Newcastle United’s win against the last bottom team, Southampton, but The Red Devils have one game in hand and they will move to position three if they will win that game.
The carabao cup winners’ next match comes on Thursday when they will go to Brighton and Hove Albion while Villa will try to get back into their winning ways when they visit Wolverhampton Wanders on Saturday.
In another dramatic match, Liverpool’s late goal by Joto earned them a win in a seven-goal thriller against Tottenham Hotspurs at Anfield Stadium.
The Reds are now in position five, 7 points behind Manchester United who are in position 4. Liverpool is fighting for the top-four race so that they can have a chance to play in the champions league next season.
