Manchester City 3-0 Fulham: 5 Talking Points

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Leroy Sane, David Silva and Raheem Sterling scored as Manchester City made light work of newly-promoted Fulham at the Etihad Stadium to warm up for the Champions League encounter against Lyon in the best possible way.

Pep Guardiola’s side wasted little time in converting their quality into goals as Leroy Sane tapped in Fernandinho’s cross after the Brazilian intercepted Jean Michael Seri’s pass. The lead was soon doubled when Bernardo Silva’s ground cross fell into the path of David Silva, who blasted his shot past a wrong-footed Marcus Bettinelli.

The game was put to bed as a contest early in the second half, when Sergio Aguero made a brilliant run from wide right, before laying the ball on a plate for Raheem Sterling to convert and consequently shift City’s focus to European football in midweek.

Here are the talking points from a one-sided game at the Etihad:

#1 Early goal sets the tone of the game

The tone of the game was known to everyone in the stadium and beyond even before a ball was kicked. Slavisa Jovanovic was aware that his team had to set up very well defensively against the flair and intensity of City. All his A-game plans, however, would go out of the window within the first two minutes, as Jean Michael Seri’s sloppy pass in his own half was gobbled up by Fernandinho, who galloped into space before whipping in a perfectly weighed pass across the face of goal for Leroy Sane to tap in and get the rout underway.

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The Cottagers, naturally, were forced to open up and in the process lost possession while attempting to get the ball forward. City were rampant, ruthless and it was pretty much one-way traffic once the net bulged inside the opening 100 seconds despite missing fullback Benjamin Mendy and Kevin de Bruyne in midfield. David Silva was the chief perpetrator, slicing open a hapless Fulham defence with passes to set his team-mates up. It was just another day in the office for Pep Guardiola and his group of record-breaking champions.

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