He called it ‘a different kind of win’ as they competed 10 v 11 for 64 minutes.
Here we’ll take a look at the stats from a very intriguing 90 minutes...
ARE YOU ENTERTAINED?
There were only four 3pm kick-offs in the Premier League on Saturday – enough to make Match of the Day producers worry about the content of their popular highlights show.
But there was no need to worry as a flurry of goals went in across the first afternoon of Matchweek 15.
There were 19 goals in City 2-1 Fulham, Leeds 4-3 Bournemouth, Forest 2-2 Brentford and Wolves 2-3 Brighton.
That average of 4.75 goals/game was the highest in a single round of Saturday 3pm kick-offs in the top-flight since 5 February 2011, which saw the average of 5.50 - 33 goals in 6 games.
ROLLS-ROYCE RODRI
Pep Guardiola called Rodrigo one of the best holding midfielders in the world at his pre-match press conference ahead of the Fulham game.
And his influence was, once again, on show as we defeated the Cottagers.
Rodrigo enjoyed a 92 per cent pass success rate in the 2-1 win.
He was No.1 for total passes with 108, with Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake second on a very respectable 92.
The Spanish international was also No.1 for touches with 119, with Akanji coming in behind him on 104.
Rodri goes about his job with the minimum of fuss but there’s no doubt he makes the maximum impact.
PASS MASTERS
There are few teams in world football who can dominate games even when down to 10 men.
But Pep Guardiola’s team did exactly that against Fulham.
The post-match stats make interesting reading, especially when analysed against the backdrop of Joao Cancelo being dismissed on 26 minutes - meaning 10 v 11 for 64 minutes.
City enjoyed 71% possession compared to 29% for Fulham.
City had five shots on target compared to two shots for Fulham while Guardiola’s men had nine corners compared to none for the Cottagers.
GOAL MACHINE
Erling Haaland has racked up some hugely impressive goalscoring figures since joining us this past summer.
He has scored 18 goals in the Premier League and 23 in all competitions.
He has also scored 16 goals in his last 10 Premier League appearances.
That’s the joint-most goals a player has scored across a 10-game period in the competition, alongside Luis Suarez’s 16 goals, ending in December 2013.
CLASS KDB ON FIRE
Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne has been involved in 30 goals in the Premier League in 2022.
That’s 13 goals and 17 assists.
That’s second only to Harry Kane (32).
KDB has also had a hand in 19 goals in his last 14 starts against newly promoted opponents (7 goals, 12 assists).
LATE SHOW
Erling Haaland certainly left it late to score our winning goal against Fulham on 94 minutes and 33 seconds.
And it’s the latest winning goal we’ve scored in the Premier League in almost five years.
The last one was on 29 November 2017 against Southampton.
Raheem Sterling scored on 95:04 - after Oriol Romeu had cancelled out a Kevin De Bruyne effort – to give us a 2-1 win.
WINNING RUN
City have now won each of our last 13 games against Fulham in all competitions.
There are only two other clubs where we have a better winning run.
They are Watford, where we have won our last 15 games and West Brom where we have won our last 14.
Guardiola will look to match the Baggies stat when we face the Cottagers in April 2023.
We’ve also netted at least twice in each of our last 14 against Fulham in all competitions.
