By Lori Ewing
MANCHESTER, England, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Mateo Kovacic scored either side of halftime to fire Manchester City to an entertaining 3-2 victory over Fulham at a sun-drenched Etihad Stadium on Saturday, as the hosts kept their grip on second place in the Premier League standings.
Pep Guardiola’s men have 17 points after seven games, a point behind leaders Liverpool, while Marco Silva’s Fulham are sixth with 11 points.
While City dominated possession early on, Fulham grew into the game and were first on the scoresheet when Andreas Pereira stabbed it home in the 26th minute after a crafty back heel from Mexican Raul Jimenez.
City equalised six minutes later when Fulham struggled to clear a corner and the ball fell to Kovacic, who took one touch before firing it in.
“We always say that there are no easy games,” Kovacic said. “We dominated in the beginning and couldn’t score, conceded the goal and then came back quickly.
“In the end we won it and it was a tough game against an opponent in good form, so for us it is good to continue winning.”
Thousands of fans had not yet returned to their seats from halftime when the midfielder grabbed his second — and third league goal this season — in the 47th minute when he latched onto a pass from Jack Grealish and rifled home another terrific finish from the edge of the area.
Jeremy Doku gave City a two-goal lead in the 82nd minute with a rocket into the top corner for the Belgian’s first goal of the season.
Rodrigo Muniz pulled one back for the visitors in the 88th minute with a shot from 15 yards out that deflected off John Stones and into the roof of the net. However, City held on to win against a Fulham side that will have been disappointed to leave without a point.
City had 20 shots to Fulham’s 11, but Adama Traore squandered a couple of terrific chances when he twice found himself one on one with Ederson then fired straight at the goalkeeper.
It was a quiet afternoon for the league’s top scorer Erling Haaland, whose best chance was a shot early in the game that Bernd Leno dove to his right to save. Ilkay Gundogan blasted a long shot just wide of the net in the first half.
City fans unfurled a banner before kickoff written in Guardiola’s native Catalan asking him to stay as manager. The coach’s contract expires at the end of the season and he was non-committal on Friday about his future — except to say the fans should send him a bill for the banner. (Reporting by Lori Ewing Editing by Christian Radnedge)