With 20 minutes gone at Craven Cottage, andFulhamyet to muster anything even the most creative observer could describe as an attack, Ilkay Gündogan scored a thrilling goal to draw any real sense of peril 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 looping 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 crashed into the Fulham goal off the underside of the bar.
With that, the afternoon eased into something that was still some way off a stroll. Fulham were peppy and keen, made chances, had shots blocked and really might have equalised before City made it 2-0 on 71 minutes, this time 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 fromin FA Cup finals.
And so for Manchester City the memory circuits can be purged, the scar tissue of winter left to heal. The potential disaster of missing out on the Champions League has now been averted with a third-placedPremier Leaguefinish. A summer reset is close at hand. What better way to ease the lingering pain of winter than a few weeks in the sun at FIFA’s low-throttle power-grab spectacular.
With Fulham’s season already all but done there were three potential notes of drama on the line at kick-off. First, City could drop out of the top five, an unlikely outcome given four results would have to align and the last time City lost to Fulham was shortly before the invention of the flint-headed axe.
Second, there was the opportunity here for further sentimental farewells. And third there were personal points to be made among those City players who will remain for whatever job of refurbishment is required. Kevin De Bruyne started on the bench, an emergency button behind the glass. Jack Grealish was absent from the day entirely, and not in a metaphorical way this time, but literally not there, the clearest suggestion this might be a property someone else already holds an interest in.
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 brief 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 an occasionally stirring Fulham season.
City started well, keeping the ball and probing vaguely. The opening goal was the first notable act of the afternoon. Pep 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. What a footballer Gündogan has been, all brain, all technique, all slow-twitch craft but also capable of these moments of incision.
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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 high 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 goal. This was his 22nd league goal of the season, although it takes a fairly basic assessment to maintain he doesn’t carry any weight for City’s fallow year.
Haaland was there for all the big losses, the Cup final, Real Madrid away, the 5-1 at Arsenal, PSG away, Spurs 4-0. The win percentage with Haaland is 47.6. Without him that jumps to 64.2%. It seems fairly clear Haaland is an elite asset in a high functioning team that can keep the ball just fine with nine outfield players. But it’s also a whole lot easier to say, well, don’t look at me I did my job when you only have one of those to do.
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 player. And Guardiola finally gets to draw the curtain down on a strange, fretful but ultimately safe season of collapse and retrenchment.