Man City narrowly survive Fulham comeback in 5-4 thriller

Smith Rowe, Iwobi and a Chukwueze double couldn't quite overturn City's rampant start at the Cottage

“Manchester City beat Fulham” is a headline that’s nothing new. We’ve lost the last 19 games in a row against this team, and before tonight’s game even the most optimistic Fulham fan would probably have expected a disappointment following our success at the weekend. It is indeed a fact of the game, but what a story it held - a dismal first hour or so, with nothing but a seeming consolation to abate the utter gulf in quality between us and Guardiola’s team, before some tactical changes saw us a goal-line clearance away from an inspired comeback. 5-4 is a wild scoreline, with mountainous ups and abyssal downs for both sides, and in truth it doesn’t quite feel a defeat at this moment in time.

First Half

It started as you’d expect, with dominance from the visitors. Any game against a Guardiola team has a degree of difficulty that, even in 2025, is disguised until you actually play them. His teams have always been irrepressible on the ball, adorned with footballers who treat possession as an art form, and whatever rumblings there have been about this current iteration of Man City quickly faded when they started the game today in conventional fashion, breezing about the Cottage with a flurry of smart passes.

You need to be sharp, both mentally and athletically, to stop this approach. It’s the characteristic of the majority of the sides that have beaten City this season. Fulham were not - with Lukic returned to midfield, and Chukwueze and King benched, much of our speed was drained from the side, and the team played with a dreary lull hanging over their heads. It’s the sort of demeanour City relish - their patience is unending, and need minute space to carve chances out of the game. They had one early on - receiving the ball from Nunes, Foden wriggled away from Berge on our left and threaded a pass to Haaland, for whom only the post denied an opening goal. Another, constructed across the team from Foden to Nunes to Haaland, needed O’Reilly to shoot before Andersen could stop his shot.

The Norwegian didn’t have to wait long to rectify his mistake, either. Despite the makings of a few decent opportunities, our passages on the ball were marked with a frustrating wastefulness - panicked kicks out from the back in the face of City’s diligent press, or worse, mistakes at critical moments in attack. It let City escape their own defensive lapses unscathed, without any of the cumulative pressure we were buckling under, and get the ball quickly back to their key players. From Gonzalez and O’Reilly on the left, the ball met Doku, who used a pocket of space left by Tete and Wilson to drive the ball into the box. Reijnders diverted its path to reach Haaland, who cannoned his shot past a sliding Sessegnon and Leno’s hopeful dive to make the first breakthrough of the game.

We could have equalised fairly quickly. Smith Rowe, enjoying a chance over King, had been trying fervently to take the fight to City; prior to the opener only a timely Ruben Dias intervention had interrupted a move featuring clever Jimenez hold-up play and Wilson turning Gvardiol on the edge of the box to feed the playmaker. He was involved in another critical moment after the goal - Bassey charged out of defence to give the ball to Iwobi, the midfielder played a smart diagonal pass through the lines to find Smith Rowe in the box, and whilst he had the guile to shift away from Dias he couldn’t beat Donnarumma, a master shot-stopper, whose terrific block with his feet prevented the equaliser. It was our best chance for a while - a brief spell, where Fulham actually managed to put positional questions to the visitors, was squandered by the aforementioned wastefulness on the ball. Lukic was prime suspect here - an awful free kick had already occured, but a chance to put Smith Rowe through on goal following another insightful Iwobi through ball was wasted by a hideous touch from the Serbian, in a really poor outing on the night.

It would prove costly, too. City were far from deterred by our purring and the pass machine was still generating opportunities. Lukic was well-placed to stop Haaland heading a Nunes cross at Leno, and fierce pressing led to Reijnders dinking a ball over the backline for Doku, which Berge had to drop back to sort out. Such consistent presence around our half led to more needless mistakes - poor distribution from Leno let Dias quickly feed Haaland, who bullied Andersen away from him and fed a smart ball through to Reijnders, free from a stumbling Tete, to lift the ball beyond Leno for City’s second. Their third came shortly afterwards - more poor decisions at the back saw Berge cede an avoidable corner, which was flapped at by Leno, and with Foden uncontested on the edge of the box he had the time to move the ball onto his stronger foot and bend it into the goal.

We were disintegrating, and in many an encounter with this opponent this would have been the end of the night. But a lifeline was dangled at the end, albeit through City’s complacent defending. A cheap corner was given away at the end of the half, and though Foden cleared Wilson’s initial kick, a poor touch from Nunes let Iwobi steal it back, feed the ball to Wilson, well-positioned following the corner kick, and saw the Welshman fizz a ball to Smith-Rowe, who stooped down low to loft the ball with his head. Donnarumma could only watch the header arch in for 3-1. It had been a very poor half for Fulham, but was there a chance this goal would instigate a fight back?

Second Half

Silva certainly didn’t think the game was over, and his substitutes made clear the intent - Lukic, enduring a nightmare return to the team, and Tete were withdrawn for Chukwueze and Castagne. It saw Iwobi return to his central role, and put attacking impetus - and critically, pace - back into the team. Unfortunately, it gave City’s attackers even more space on the ball. Whilst the withdrawn duo weren’t at their best, we weren’t sharp enough at the back whilst we transitioned into an attacking state of play, and left opportunities for City to extend their lead.

They didn’t take long to capitalise. Taking the ball off us in their own half, Reijnders played a nice one-two with Haaland before dispatching Doku down the left. He didn’t even need to burn through the gears - Castagne’s dozy sauntering gave him everything a winger would want. The Belgian’s through ball deflected fortuitously off Haaland’s heel and reached Foden, miles ahead of Sessegnon, who used his weak foot to plant the ball between Leno and the near post. We had attacking pieces on, and Wilson and Chukwueze’s energy did foster chances for Jimenez and Smith-Rowe, but they were pumped into Gonzalez and smacked comfortably over the bar. And once again, the same route through our team manifested rewards for City - Foden and Doku combined on the left, and though Bassey cleared the ball our clumsy passing gifted our guests a chance in the box. Andersen, reacting poorly to a quick Wilson pass into his feet, gave the ball back to Doku, who squirmed away from the Dane, and the familiar sight of Castagne dozing, and looped another shot into the net with a little help from Berge’s deflection.

5-1 might have been the death knell for Fulham, and a return to the misery run we were in a few weeks ago. But, be it through a mix of more City carelessness and the ambition of having genuinely attacking players on the pitch, Fulham were far from finished in the game. With Chukwueze and Iwobi using the left channel more, Smith Rowe had taken up a position further towards the right. A bit of graft had seen him and Wilson target Gvardiol and O’Reilly - after wrestling it off the Croatian, Smith Rowe fed the ball back to Wilson, whose cross double-deflected off the pair and fell into space. Iwobi, well-positioned outside the box, ran onto the ball; he slotted a cool finish through the crowd and under Donnarumma to make it 5-2.

Surely, this was just a second consolation? We were enjoying possession more, the consequence of Iwobi playing accurate balls into our attackers and City’s defenders actually being subject to sustained pressure, but a three-goal lead would take our chances actually being converted. The crosses were of a stronger calibre, angled far closer to Jimenez and bringing him back into the game after a long absence from the action, but they couldn’t quite find their way in - the closest, supplied by Wilson, saw Jimenez’s chest-down kicked away by Nunes. And of course, City still threatened to hit us on the counter - Reijnders, never too far from a smart pass, supplied substitute Savinho with the ball in space on the left, and again free from Castagne his cross was smacked onto the post by Haaland, who towered high above Sessegnon.

This narrative wasn’t in sync with Fulham’s attitude, though. Through Berge, Smith-Rowe, and then Castagne, we fired the ball into the box again, and City’s feeble defending from Silva’s deflection saw it fall kindly again to a Fulham man - Chukwueze, running in from a central position, volleyed his effort into the net. Even an egregious VAR check couldn’t deny him his first Premier League goal - if there was any doubt, the comeback was well and truly on.

City were quaking, and Silva decided to turn the screw even further. Smith-Rowe, with his best game of the season, and a knackered Jimenez swapped out for Josh King and the lesser-spotted Jonah Kusi-Asare. It put power and agility at the front of our attack, and signalled to City they were going to be defending for the remainder of the game. This was made clear quite quickly - Wilson won a corner off Savinho, the crowd still vibrant from the Chukwueze strike, and from his corner a clumsy punch from Donnarumma fell to the Nigerian on the edge of the box. A second opening, a second volley, a path created by his finish, a fourth goal for Fulham, and only a single goal stood between one of the greatest comebacks of Fulham - and Premier League - history.

As if to hammer the point into City’s minds, Kevin entered the fray for Wilson, switching wings with Chukwueze to give our forward line a dynamic new look. The excitement almost worked immediately, dragging Dias wide to try and deal with the danger his pace caused and slamming a clearance into the Brazilian that fell into the box - Kusi-Asare surged into the box and collided with O’Reilly, with only the left-back’s dink of the ball swerving a penalty. He was a revelation in this frantic final stage of the game, using his stature to win long balls for King et al. to latch onto. With Chukwueze also darting past him on the right, we had the energy to get into the box - a nippy move down the right beat Savinho and Stones, but saw the eventual shot fire over.

It’s an achievement to make a team like Manchester City commit to “time-management” in a game they’d scored five goals in, but they will wonder how they didn’t kill the game off themselves. Our eagerness to score was proving an effective strategy, but a few moments presented themselves for City towards the end - a Haaland header should have given Savinho the chance to surge through one-on-one, but his clumsy footwork let our defenders stop his move, and the creative talents of substitute Cherki almost gave Gvardiol the game-winning moment, but nerves saw him bungle an attempted lay-off to a distant Haaland.

Instead, stoppage time remained Fulham’s vessel to try and complete the turnaround. Kevin, a livewire at the death, blasted past Nunes and drilled a cross through the box - it screamed to be met by a man in white but was booted clear instead. And then, the last real chance of the half; another brilliant combination on the left from Kevin and Sessegnon saw the substitute dink the ball through the backline, for King to snap onto and trickle an effort goalwards ahead Donnarumma. Greatness seemed to be his - we will never truly know though, because Gvardiol was there to smash the danger away. Our fizz didn’t run out, but we never came as close - even as our left-sided play won one final corner, City held their nerve, their defence got their clearances right for one last time, and they clung on to their 5-4 victory in the end.

“A game of two halves…”

Rarely has a game been divided as evenly between two halves. We lost the first one 3-1, which frankly could have been 5 or 6, and we won the second 3-2, which saw us throw City back to memories of their pre-takeover top-flight wobbles. It feels harsh to single out Lukic, but we have to - he slowed down the entire team, removed the creative fine-tuning of Iwobi from the heart of the team, and made appalling mistakes on the ball throughout the night. Berge and Iwobi have to be the pairing that starts the next few games; Lukic will have to earn his way back into the team, because his defensive contributions aren’t equivalent at all to Iwobi’s goals, assists and all-round composure in the centre.

Iwobi in the centre also let us put Chukwueze back into the fold. It shouldn’t have been the case that he was on the bench at all, but his double today should make it clear to Marco that our best football happens with him on the pitch. On the left, on the right, in the centre - the man has the talent, and the pace, to get the ball in the net - some incredible finishes were the highlight of a superb evening for him.

It was a good evening for most of our attackers, in truth. Smith Rowe has struggled to get gametime ahead of King, but he was one of the few bright sparks of a dismal first half, and his energy kept Fulham going for long enough to make the near-comeback possible. You can see how he made it through Arsenal’s academy on nights like this - he looked comfortable amidst City’s slick playmakers, and used his technical prowess to lace together critical passes across the pitch. More performances like that will surely yield more starts over the festive season! Wilson didn’t have a wondergoal today, but more assists join his G+A tally - you can almost feel him improving his game to try and stave off his rivals for the position.

Speaking of, don’t sleep on the effort made by Kevin tonight. I thought he was exactly what a winger should be - troubling for defenders, rapid on the ball, always eager to get the ball to forwards in the box. It’s not a coincidence that putting him on the left humbled an already ragged Nunes, and fed a healthy supply of balls into Kusi-Asare. JKA shouldn’t be forgotten either - surely, with Jimenez struggling for fitness over 90 minutes, he has to start getting minutes. His footwork in the box was nifty, and he enjoyed some good link-ups with runners around him, things that never hurt an attacking team.

Further back, you can’t really be too lenient on a team that concedes five, even if they were facing a team with six league titles under their current manager. We obviously didn’t have a lot going for us with the Berge-Lukic pivot, which seemed to attract danger to our key defensive zone. Bassey was probably the strongest of the four, in that he took the fight to Haaland and won the most battles out of anyone. Andersen was bettered quite a few times and uncharacteristically gave the ball away in tight situations, most obviously for Doku’s goal. Similarly Tete wasn’t at his finest, something that might be lost when watching highlights of Castagne’s utterly vacant defending in the second half (he can perhaps be thankful City were required to defend for most of his time on the pitch). Sess did very well to join the attacks towards the end, given how much work he had to do covering the left flank against Foden, Nunes and Bernardo, but games like this do highlight why Robinson has been so highly coveted by onlookers over the years. Leno may also ask questions of himself for a few of the goals, too - we are elated by the comeback, but the team did not pass the firetest City’s attacking posed, and Silva will need to refocus the group for upcoming assessments.

Man City - great, but beatable

This isn’t the easiest team to play though. We aren’t watching vintage Barcelona, but Manchester City are still an elite side, and they play sensational football at their best. Haaland is the obvious star, a goal machine, a titanic warrior, but also an intelligent creator of space and chances, and a player you have to watch in more dimensions than one. But City have never truly been a one-man team - it is just that the striker is a magnet for goals, and the best finisher by some distance. Doku and Foden have grown into their game, both using acceleration (slightly more in Doku’s case) and technical acumen to guide the ball into dangerous areas, or even the net. Reijnders behind them played many a pass into their pathways, and his own goal demonstrated what he can achieve when unleashed into the final third. Behind them metronomic passers like Gonzalez keep the team ticking - they are quite the sight when they are in action, and were far too much for Fulham in the first half.

But they too have defensive quandaries to address. Even as early as the first half, our own mistakes were all that stood between City and an early test for Donnarumma. Rodri is the blatant absence in their team but relying on the diminishing status of Bernardo Silva, who for all his playmaking talent is not quite at the physical standard to withstand modern Premier League pressure,, to bolster the midfield is hopeful. He was advantaged a few times in the first half and was being utterly overwhelmed by the end of the game.

I actually quite like O’Reilly but Wilson, and later Chukwueze, worked diligently to place the young left-back under pressure, particularly when Smith-Rowe and eventually King doubled up along the wing. It dragged Gvardiol into all sorts of contortions to try and ease the damage, which directly produced the deflections and corners that delivered our goals. This was also true of Nunes, who was struggling against Iwobi at times in the first half and was completely out of his depth when we put Chukwueze and Kevin to work on his wing. On the topic of set-pieces, someone needs to have a word with Guardiola about Donnarumma, who transforms from a world-class producer of saves to a skittish mess flailing around aimlessly. But for his centre-backs, who proved critical in the key moments at the back, City may well have lost their lead, something that would have deeply stung. There’s clearly a very good team at Guardiola’s disposal - you don’t score five goals in an hour without one! But if they want to win the league, they need to work out what is keeping them from the killer instinct, the ruthless qualities, that this club used to win four straight league titles in a row.

Maybe we can chalk this down to Fulham’s ingenuity though. Because there are very few teams in the world that would have fought back to 5-4 from 5-1 down, and Fulham should be pleased that they had the mental fortitude to refuse to die in the game. This is the modern Premier League, and if we can capture that spirit more often, we will find ourselves making the next step, turning the defeat into points salvaged, or even victory. The route to doing this is clear, and may even avoid the setbacks in the first place - trust the wealth of attacking talent the club has accrued, and let the attacking philosophy Silva has refined so consistently across the team blossom through its pace and verve.