Fulham 0, Manchester City 2
Manchester City earned a deserved 2-0 victory at Fulham that guaranteed Champions League football after a difficult season.
Embed from Getty ImagesA spectacular overhead kick by Ilkay Gundogan and a more functional penalty by Erling Haaland earned City the points that ensured a 3rd place finish for the Blues.
There will be disappointment that the season did not end with any major silverware but there are shoots of recovery for City who ended the season with a run of 10 unbeaten games.
Gundogan’s opener, which went in off the crossbar after the German improvised acrobatically, arrived after 21 minutes at Craven Cottage with Bernd Leno parrying Matheus Nunes’ cross into the Germans path.
And Gundogan was tripped by Jorge Cuenca in the area to leave Haaland to convert the spot kick in the 72nd minute.
There was to be no repeat of the generosity shown by the Norwegian striker who allowed Omar Marmoush to take a spot kick in the FA Cup final just days ago.
Fulham did have their chances though – Tom Cairney had a couple of chances and Ederson denied Harry Wilson at full stretch while Andreas Pereira could only hit the side netting as the home side looked for a goal.
Leno was called into action to prevent Nico Gonzalez and Josko Gvardiol getting on the score sheet before Haaland scored City’s second goal to reach 31 for the season.
There was time for Kevin De Bruyne to make a late cameo just for the away fans – he was pushed in front of them for a final salute after the end of a relatively stress free game.
But with the game won and the season over, City will now turn their minds to a trip to the United States where they will compete in the expanded Club World Cup.