It was an easy victory for the champs, an Erling Haaland hat-trick, and a record 18th straight victory for the Etihad.
Nevertheless, it was an afternoon when the champs made it a perfect four out of four, leaving 50,000 people in awe and shock.
First in the ruling, which enabled Nathan Ake’s header right before halftime to give Manchester City the lead again, to stand.
Additionally, Marco Silva, who had received a warning in each of Fulham’s previous three Premier League contests, was able to avoid receiving another by mistake from referee Michael Oliver.
It was amazing how the manager, who had a good early season claim to be the Premier League’s gobbiest manager, kept his trap shut in this situation.
Even though Haaland won his sixth match ball as a City player and another match ball for the day thanks to the poor decision, he shared center stage with referee Oliver.
Later, more on the Norwegian. But first, there was Oliver’s terrible gaffe, which was skillfully corrected by linesman Stuart Burt and VAR official Tony Harrington.
As we approached the final of the four remaining first-half minutes, the score was 1-1, and let’s be clear that Fulham was reasonable value for that result as well.
Ake’s header from a Phil Foden corner had good accuracy and enough of force as it snuck into Bernd Leno’s net.
However, Manuel Akanji, who was twirling and hopping, had managed to avoid Leno by little more than two yards. True, he took precautions to avoid contact, but the Fulham goalkeeper was directly in front of him and couldn’t dive until the ball had passed City’s center-back.
Everyone in the Etihad could see it plain as day. It should have been, at the very least.
Although linesman Burt likely failed to raise a flag, referee OIiver astonishingly saw no issue and neither saw fit to change the ruling following a touchline debate.
Neither did Harrington, who concurred with the match official while watching from his Stockley Park bunker. unlike anyone with ties to Fulham.
Andreas Pereira was the protest leader on the field, pleading with Oliver to look up and see it again on the big screen. They even gave the impression of refusing to kick off at one point.
To further delay the start of play, assistant manager Luis Boa Morte kept kicking another ball onto the field from the sidelines.
Fair play to Silva for maintaining his composure to avoid getting into another refereeing altercation while being upset and impressed.
That was the only modest solace the Fulham chief received, even though he lived in the land of little mercies.
Finally, City can legitimately claim a four-goal victory margin, which only suggests a typical stroll across the park. Because Fulham would still have needed to exert an extraordinary amount of effort even if they had tied the score at halftime. City had won the previous 14 encounters, after all.
But even in the best of circumstances, it can be challenging to avoid losing to the triple champions at home.
The result is that mission implausible becomes mission impossible with a tremendous helping hand from the bureaucrats. And for Fulham, that was the case.
primarily due to that man Haaland, who is currently six. And to think that his firepower was seriously questioned by some after scoring just one goal in his final seven games of the previous campaign.
His first came just before the hour when Tim Ream was tripping and staggering and was avoided by Rodri’s feeding of Julian Alvarez. Referee Oliver was back in the spotlight eight minutes later, but guess what? This time, he was correct!
Issa Diop pushed Alvarez to the ground from behind as he closed in on the goal, so as far as penalty rulings go, it was as obvious as they get.
The ball went to the left, the goalkeeper to the right, and City had some breathing room as Haaland stepped up.
However, there is still time for the Striking Viking to score the triple with to Sergio Gomez’s outstanding weaving and winding run.
Haaland gave it the finale it merited when he dragged the ball back from the byline, slamming it past Leno for the fifth.