Erling Haaland is playing again for the first time after his injury against Borussia Dortmund. Manchester City has been outnumbered for a long time against Fulham FC, everything looks like a draw. Then the Norwegian comes on - and transforms in the last minute.
With a last-minute goal, Erling Haaland shot English football champions Manchester City to the top of the Premier League table for at least one night. In the fifth minute of stoppage time, the ex-Dortmunder converted a penalty kick to make it 2-1 (1-1) against Fulham. It was his 23rd competitive goal this season.
Manchester, outnumbered for over an hour, overtook Arsenal by 32 points. The Londoners could return to first place on Sunday (1 p.m. / Sky) with a win in the derby at Chelsea.
Without Haaland in the starting line-up, Julián Álvarez (17th minute) shot the dominant hosts at the Etihad Stadium to a well-deserved lead after assisting international İlkay Gündoğan. Then defender Joao Cancelo fouled Fulham's Harry Wilson in the penalty area and saw a red card for it (26') - Andreas Pereira (28') converted the penalty for Fulham with German goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
The substitutions of Haaland, who had injured himself in the Champions League against his former club Borussia Dortmund, and Phil Foden did not bring the desired turnaround for the Cityzens from the game. Haaland scored a header for the hosts after 75 minutes, but the 22-year-old's goal didn't count due to an offside position.
In the end, Man City celebrated again thanks to Haaland, who scored in a home game for the sixth time in a row. Haaland scored from the penalty spot late in injury time after Kevin De Bruyne won the spot-kick. For the Cityzens it was the 13th win in a row against Fulham. And for Haaland the 18th Premier League goal in the 12th game - in the Champions League the Norwegian has five goals in four games. In doing so, he made a significant contribution to the fact that his team, as group winners, reached the round of 16 ahead of BVB.
