MAN CITY 3, FULHAM 0
Manchester City disposed of newly-promoted Fulham with minimal effort to maintain the unbeaten start to their Premier League campaign.
And it was excellent preparation for the start of their Champions League campaign against Lyon on Wednesday.
City effectively had the game won in little more than 20 minutes after early goals from Leroy Sane and David Silva.
Raheem Sterling added a third goal soon after the restart and it was game over as City coasted through the latter stages against a Fulham side that offered little threat.
Indeed, it was a measure of City’s superiority they had 25 goal attempts to Fulham’s eight with on-target efforts 9-3 in their favour as they produced another hugely impressive performance.
City manager Pep Guardiola was delighted with his side’s performance against a Fulham side he rated highly.
He said: “I give a lot of credit to Fulham who asked a lot from us. They want to play and they will do a lot of surprises in this Premier League.
“That’s why I give my players credit as it is a good result. We have a lot of chances and it could have been five, six or seven. We need to be more clinical.”
Guardiola added his team tired in the last 20 minutes.
“After the international break it is always complicated and these games are dangerous,” he explained.
Guardiola pointed out the team only re-assembled after the break on Friday so had little time to prepare for the game.
He said: “If we had not fought a lot we would have suffered against (Aleksandar) Mitrovic was strong in the air, (Andre) Schurrle is a threat and the left back (Ryan Sessegnon) is a good player. That is why I give a lot of credit to our team.”
City made four changes from the side that started against Newcastle before the international break.
Left-back Benjamin Mendy was ruled out through injury, but John Stones, Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus dropped down to the bench.
There were first starts of the season for Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph and also recalls for Sane and Bernardo Silva.
City’s two match mascots were sisters Vera Cohen and Olga Halon who are 102 and 98 respectively.
Vera has been a season-ticket holder 88 years and still attends games with her son and son-in-law.
And they soon had something to cheer as City took the lead after 98 seconds.
Fernandinho intercepted Jean Michael Seri’s pass to Denis Odoi and sprinted clear on the left and crossed to the far post for Sane to slot home from six yards into an empty net, his first goal at the Etihad since last October.
City almost doubled their lead after quarter of an hour when Raheem Sterling was put clear from half-way, but keeper Marcus Bettinelli managed to deflect his goalbound shot on to the crossbar.
The second goal finally arrived in the 21st minute when captain David Silva marked his 350th City appearance with a 50th Premier League goal.
Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Aguero linked to set up David Silva who chested the ball down before firing into the roof of the net from inside the six-yard box.
Fulham had to wait half an hour before registering a shot on target when Schurrle’s shot was beaten out by keeper Ederson.
Schurrle went close again with a 20-yard drive that Ederson spectacularly turned over the bar by Ederson.
City were denied a third goal when Bettinelli did well to keep out a fierce angled shot from Sane.
And Bettinelli excelled again with another excellent stop to deny Sterling while Sane also had a goal ruled out, also in stoppage time after he had strayed offside.
The game was over within two minutes of the restart when City added a third goal when Aguero delivered a delightful low cross to the far post for Sterling to slot home from three yards.
And it might have immediately been 4-0 had Kevin McDonald not managed to deflect a goalbound shot from Bernardo Silva for a corner.
City made their first change in the 54th minute when Aguero, who picked up a knock, was replaced by Jesus who almost made an immediate impact when a shot was deflected for a corner.
Fernandinho’s drive then flashed narrowly wide, Jesus fired over and Sterling wide as City showed no signs of easing up.
City’s second change mid half saw Delph replaced by Ilkay Gundogan. And the final one with 14 minutes left came when Mahrez took over from Sterling who left the field to a standing ovation.
In the latter stages, Bernardo Silva and Mahrez ought to have added to City’s goal tally.
But at the death Fulham were denied a consolation when Aleksandar Mitrovic’s effort was well turned away by Ederson.