With 20 minutes gone at Craven Cottage, and with Fulham yet to muster anything even the most creative observer could describe as an attack, Ilkay Gündogan scored a thrillingly explosive goal to draw any real sense of sting from this final-day stroll in the south-west London sun.
Manchester City had spent the game to that point applying a fug of slow-burn possession. The goal came from a first note of urgency, Matheus Nunes surging down the right, found by a flick from Omar Marmoush.
Nunes crossed. The ball was deflected in a high, slow arc off the glove of Bernd Leno, hanging idly as the day seemed to freeze for a moment. At the back post Gündogan adjusted his feet, ran the numbers, corrected the descent vector a couple of times, then launched himself into a perfectly balanced, viciously executed flying overhead volley, which clanged down into the Fulham goal off the underside of the crossbar.
With that, the afternoon eased into something more manageable for City. Fulham were peppy and keen, made chances, had shots blocked and really might have equalised before City made it 2-0 on 71 minutes, as the score would remain to the end.
This time the goal came from the penalty spot after Jérémy Doku had been tripped. Erling Haaland rolled the ball into the corner like the ice‑cold big-note goal machine he is, apart from in FA Cup finals.
And so for Manchester City the memory circuits can be purged, the scar tissue of winter allowed to heal. The potential disaster of missing out on the Champions League has been averted with a third-place Premier League finish. A summer reset is close at hand. What better way to ease the pains of winter than a few weeks in the sun at Fifa’s low-throttle power‑grab spectacular. Next stop: Wydad AC at the Lincoln Financial Field three weeks from now.
With Fulham’s own season all but done there were three potential notes of City drama on the line at kick-off. First, they could drop out of the top five, an unlikely outcome given three other results would have to align and the last time City lost against Fulham was shortly before the invention of the flint-headed axe.
Second, there was an opportunity here for further sentimental farewells. And third there were personal points to be made among those City players who will remain for the job of refurbishment. Kevin De Bruyne came on as a late substitute. More significantly, Jack Grealish was absent entirely, and not in a metaphorical way this time, but literally not even on the bench.
Afterwards, Pep Guardiola denied there was any significance to this beyond squad rotation, while also admitting Grealish’s ultimate future at the club was a question “for Jack and his agent”. “It’s not anything personal about Jack, absolutely anything. I am the person who fought [for Jack] to come here and fought [for him] to stay here this season.” In the event De Bruyne got the last six minutes here, applauded warmly in pockets around the ground as he came on – followed by another chant of “Chelsea reject” – and serenaded all game by the City fans.
And from the start Craven Cottage was breezy, sunny, chilly, loud, sleepy and restless all at once, with an agreeably holiday-ish feel after a good Fulham season.
The opening goal was the first notable act of the afternoon. Guardiola deserves a nod for employing Gündogan in a roving semi-No 10 role, from where he was on hand to wander in under that deflected cross.
Fulham woke up, broke well down the right a few times, and saw a couple of shots blocked. Adama Traoré had a run through on goal but was unable to control a looping pass over his shoulder, producing instead a first touch with all the feather-footed delicacy of a man dismantling a tree stump with a blunt axe. Kenny Tete forced a fine save at full stretch from Ederson just before half-time.
City were in containment mode for much of the second half, but always threatened to punish Fulham down Doku’s side. Haaland celebrated with real feeling in front of the City fans after his penalty had sealed the game. This was his 22nd league goal of the season, although it takes a fairly basic assessment of the outline numbers to conclude he doesn’t carry any weight for City’s fallow year.
Haaland was there too for all the big losses. The win percentage is much higher without him this season, evidence that Haaland is an elite asset in a high-functioning team that can keep the ball, but that it’s also a whole lot easier to say, well, I did my job, when you only have one of those to do. How Guardiola rebuilds around his one remaining undeniably world-class player will be fascinating to watch.
This, though, was a safe enough end point for both teams. Fulham played well here with nothing on the line. City got to say another fond farewell to their greatest ever footballer. And Guardiola will now get to draw the curtain down on a strange, fretful but ultimately safe season of collapse and retrenchment.
