Erling Haaland bagged his first hat-trick of the 2023/24 Premier League season as Manchester City beat Fulham 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium this evening.
It took over half an hour for Manchester City to get the opener as Fulham tried to block all avenues to their goal. However, the defending champions were not to be stopped as they scored in the 31st minute through Julián Álvarez after being selfishly played in by Haaland for a simple tap-in.
Manchester City’s lead was short-lived as Fulham got the equalizer after just two minutes. Tim Ream pounced on to the ball after the Manchester City goalkeeper had made a save from Raul Jimenez’s volley and the American centre-back tapped home from close range.
Fulham thought they had seen out the first half on level terms but Nathan Ake headed home Phil Foden’s corner kick in the added minute of the first half to restore Manchester City’s lead.
The second half was an all-Manchester City affair. The Citizens went all out searching for more goals and they got three of them, all coming from their Norwegian marksman Erling Haaland.
His first of the match was as a result of City’s attack through the middle of the pitch that saw Rodri linking up with Alvarez before getting the ball to Haaland who made no mistake but to slot it past Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno in the 58th minute.
In the 70th minute, Manchester City were awarded a penalty after Issa Diop fouled Alvarez in the area and Haaland, who missed one last weekend, stepped up and sent Leno the wrong way to make it four for Manchester City.
Even though the match looked far from Fulham’s reach, they had a chance of pulling one back in the 74th minute but Jimenez’s deflected shot was punched wide of the post by Ederson, and that would be their last good chance of the match.
Haaland scored his third of the match in the 95th minute of the match. The win puts Manchester City back at the top of the table, leapfrogging Tottenham Hotspur who beat Burnley 5-2 early in the day.
