After Manchester City defeated Fulham 4-0 at Craven Cottage to set a new English record of 16 straight victories in all competitions against a fellow top-flight opponent, they will, at least, top the Premier League table for the next 24 hours.
Josko Gvardiol received the ball on the left wing and, after a deft one-two with Kevin De Bruyne, cut inside the Fulham box and finished with a coolness that would make a striker proud, slotted the ball past Bernd Leno.
After that, it was all one-way traffic. After a mix-up between Leno and Calvin Bassey, Erling Haaland scored, and the German goalie had to make saves against Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden.
Just before the half, Pep Guardiola’s team had a chance to add another goal. After a brief corner, De Bruyne swung in a cross to an unmarked Manuel Akanji inside the six-yard box, but the defender missed the mark with his volley.
In an attempt to score the first goal of the game, Fulham brought on substitute Adama Traore at halftime. Marco Silva’s strategy nearly worked when Traore found Rodrigo Muniz in the box in the 57th minute; however, Muniz’s countryman Ederson had to make sure that his flicked effort was going wide.
The champions responded to that, and Silva drove to the edge of the box two minutes afterward.
Joao Palhinha stopped him with a crunching tackle, but before the ball could fall to Foden, it found its way to the bottom corner of Leno’s net.
After that goal, City had scored two goals or more on nine consecutive visits to the Cottage.
Gvardiol met Silva’s cross at the back post and squirmed his shot under Leno to put his team up 3-0 and double his season goal tally in one afternoon. This gave the Citizens a two-point lead over Arsenal inside the final 20 minutes.
When Issa Diop brought down Julian Alvarez inside the area deep into injury time, he was sent off for a second bookable offense. The Argentinean then took the penalty to seal the victory.
The Cottagers have not collected a point against City since September 2011. Meanwhile, City, who have won seven straight games, needs two more wins to secure a fourth straight title.