Championship leaders Fulham sold themselves well and expensively at Manchester City, especially in the first half, but ultimately fell behind after the second half due to their own fatal errors and were consequently eliminated 4-1.
Fulham is the team of the 2nd division in England, the Cottagers lead the Championship unchallenged and are on a good way back to the Premier League. In addition to goal machine Mitrovic, who has scored 28 goals in 26 league games this season, Fabio Carvalho has also become an important piece of the attacking jigsaw. “
The 19-year-old has long attracted interest from big clubs and would actually already be signed by Liverpool FC had the Reds not been a tad late on Deadline Day. But Liverpool’s interest in Carvalho has by no means cooled, as Jürgen Klopp recently confirmed – and he showed in Manchester that he has a lot to offer as early as the fourth minute, when he took off at the decisive moment on Mitrovic’s opening pass to Wilson and shortly afterwards finished Wilson’s cross to make it 1-0.
City’s quick reply
The last time Fulham had beaten Manchester City was on 12 April 2009 (0-3-14 record in competitive matches since then) and they could now dream of an end to that negative streak. But that was only for a short time, because City’s answer was not long in coming: Just two minutes after the 1:0 Gündogan equalised, before Stones was given too much space at the short post after a corner kick and promptly took advantage of it to make it 2-1 (13th). The undisputed Premier League leaders had turned the tide within minutes and were on course for the last 16.
After that, the game went a little flat. City looked the better side and were more dangerous, but Fulham were the tough opponents they expected. The Cottagers acted courageously, tried to create their own offensive accents and demanded a lot from the Skyblues. However, that did not change the fact that the second division team had to go into the break with a deficit.
After the break, a fatal misplaced pass from Adarabioyo into the back of Williams led to Grealish being fouled in the sixteen. Mahrez converted the penalty kick to make it 3:1 (53.). Shortly afterwards, another blunder by a Fulham player followed: Reed’s emergency pass to the back mutated into the perfect template for De Bruyne, who then had the eye for Mahrez (57th). The 4:1 was the pre-decision in this game, which City then brought to an end with routine and coolness.
