FIRST-HALF GOALS from Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero earned Man City a 2-0 win over Fulham that moved Pep Guardiola’s men back to the top of the table ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Tottenham tomorrow.
Cottagers caretaker boss Scott Parker saw his side make early mistakes that were punished by City’s clinical forwards, who all but condemned the West Londoners to an eighth consecutive Premier League defeat within the opening half hour.
Bernardo Silva never let Fulham rest and he followed up his crisply struck goal on five minutes with an assist for Aguero, who scored his fourth goal in five top flight starts against Fulham after 27 minutes.
Parker sent out a more resilient Fulham side after the interval but City, with Kevin De Bruyne restored to their midfield after he recovered from a hamstring injury, remained dominant to move a point ahead of Liverpool at the summit.
City had Fulham pinned in their own penalty area from the off and pounced on the hosts’ first error, De Bruyne intercepting Timothy Fosu-Mensah’s sloppy pass before Aguero teed up Bernardo Silva for a raking drive into the far corner of Sergio Rico’s net.
The next error came from Joe Bryan, who gifted possession to Bernardo Silva and the ball was quickly fed to Aguero, who darted between two defenders before glancing a side-footed finish across Rico and into the top corner.
Aguero was replaced by Gabriel Jesus after 56 minutes as City pressed for a third, with Raheem Sterling having a shot clawed away by Rico before Bernardo Silva narrowly missed out on the rebound.
Kyle Walker almost made the scoreline a fairer reflection of the play when Sterling teed him up for a rasping shot onto the outside of the post with 11 minutes left, but City did not need a third goal on an afternoon when they were by far the better side.
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