Manchester City managed to hold onto their lead in a nine-goal thriller by the skin of their teeth, applying the pressure to Arsenal as they close the gap to two points.
Erling Haaland beat Alan Shearer’s record to become the fastest player to score 100 Premier League goals as he opened the scoring against Fulham, securing his century in his 111th appearance in the competition.
Shearer was the previous holder of this record, setting it back in 1995, scoring his 100th Premier League goal in his 124th match.
But the occasions was nearly overshadowed by a Fulham comeback, as Pep Guardiola’s side nearly slipped up from a 5-1 lead.
In this article, we’ll cover
Manchester City high press
In the first half, Guardiola’s side were looking to press high and regain possession, both from goal kicks and in general settled possession.
From goal kicks and restarts, Man City would have Haaland on the right side marking Calvin Bassey, allowing Jeremy Doku to press onto Joachim Andersen as the left centre-back, with Nico O’Reilly jumping onto Kenny Tete and Josko Gvardiol shuffling over to cover Harry Wilson out wide.
When Fulham were able to get into their more settled possession shape, Man City were pressing from a 4-1-4-1 shape, with Haaland still tilted towards the right to force play down the left.
From this shape, Guardiola’s side could jump out with Tijjani Reijnders applying pressure to Andersen, with Nico Gonzalez stepping up from the screening position in front of the defence to form a 4-4-2.
This intensity also applies to the Man City counterpress, which in the first half was being set really nicely, building out from the back slowly with their central overloads, allowing them to take more risks with diagonal entry passes.
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Direct approach & Diagonal access
Both Doku and Phil Foden were drifting inside to receive in the pockets. Doku’s role saw slightly more rotation between the wide and inside channels with O’Reilly, while Foden had a free role coming in off the right, having the license to find pockets of space anywhere on the pitch in possession.
Now Guardiola’s side are very purposeful with how they use their possession to set counterpressing nets around the ball, it gives these creative players more license to put the ball at risk with diagonal passes between the lines, having the safety net of their counterpress.
This in itself can act as another offensive weapon, losing the ball in an area the opposition team feel they can break, leaving their defensive shape in an attempt to seize the opportunity.
By doing this, the opposition leave themselves open if they cannot escape the counterpress, allowing Man City to then attack a distorted defensive unit.
This was evident throughout the first half, with lots of players in close proximity and risks being taken with passes between the lines, but their second half approach threw a spanner in the works.
Second half passivity
The biggest change from the first half to the second half was the defensive approach from Manchester City, which effected their on-ball ideas too.
In the first half, as we touched on, City were looking to press more aggressively out of their 4-1-4-1 shape, having 51% possession in the first half.
This saw Fulham only manage to get three shots off in the entirety of the first half, generating just 0.16 xG with zero big chances created.
In the second half, Man City having their 3-1 lead, decided to sit off in a more passive block, allowing Fulham to take control of the game, having 66% possession in the second half.
Guardiola’s side are much more equipped to defending with possession, as their box defending discipline isn’t as effectively drilled, with many players often passing on their defensive responsibilities.
The higher volume of shots (nine) in the second half, saw Fulham create one big chance, earn themselves four corner kicks and generate 0.74 xG.
Fulham flairs
Fulham had a relatively quiet summer transfer window, making four signings, only two of which were on a permanent basis.
But two of their new additions were spark plugs coming from the bench, injecting energy into the Fulham attacking unit and giving Marco Silva’s side the momentum to cause Man City plenty of problems.
Samuel Chukwueze who is on loan from AC Milan came from the bench at half-time to replace Sasa Lukic, scoring two of Fulham’s four goals, taking four shots and completing both of his dribble attempts.
Kevin entered the fray with just eight minutes to go, but still managed three dribble attempts (completing two of them), making one key pass and creating one big chance.
The pair of wingers made clear differences in the game, getting the crowd on their feet and nearly spearheading a comeback, so could they find themselves starting Fulham’s next game against Crystal Palace?