Fulham 1 Manchester City 2 AT FIRST GLANCE Manchester City’s pursuit of the Champions League appears healthier than ever, though realism is tempering any giddy anticipation. Roberto Mancini puffed his cheeks and offered a shrug when asked if his side are now favourites to claim the coveted fourth place. “No, no,” came his reply before he reverted to complimenting the quality of the other contenders. “It will be a fight until the end.”
Given his team’s propensity to implode, that much seems inevitable. Liverpool were leapfrogged with this win, only City’s second in seven matches, and fourth can be gained by defeating Everton at Eastlands on Wednesday. This was an impressive success with only Aston Villa having prevailed here since September.
Yet a contest that had been largely one-sided ended with the visitors gasping for the final whistle. Mancini could be grateful the hosts were all out of comebacks. He was happier still an assistant referee failed to acknowledge Vincent Kompany’s hand knocking down Bjorn Helge Riise’s cross in stoppage time. City should have been revelling in an authoritative lead by then. Instead, pushed to the limit by opponents apparently emotionally spent from their startling comeback against Juventus three days earlier, they just about clung on.
There had been aspects to admire. Chances had been passed up but City’s pace on the counter-attack was irrepressible, Craig Bellamy scuttling down the left flank as a striker-turned-winger and supplying Carlos Tevez, a constant blur of energy, while Adam Johnson cut inside at will on the other flank.
Yet there are just as many reasons to doubt City’s challenge. Patrick Vieira will be in South Africa either with France – Raymond Domenech’s assistant, Pierre Mankowski, was present – or as a television pundit, but he was lost here. The veteran’s swansong as a Premier League player is proving painful to behold. Once an all-energy performer rampaging from box to box, he appeared to be slogging through treacle as this contest passed him by.
The petty fouls he committed were drawn as much for a breather as to break up Fulham’s approach play.
Their defence, too, creaked alarmingly through those latter stages. Neither full back who played is considered first-choice. Neither convinced. Fulham may have started leggy from their exertions on Thursday night, but they finished impressively while City retreated. Gareth Barry’s handball on Chris Baird’s centre allowed Danny Murphy to halve the deficit from the penalty spot. Thereafter, as they cursed previous profligacy, the visitors heaved to preserve their lead: Stefano Okaka battered into the side-netting when he should have scored before Kompany’s handball was waved away.
City had coped with the loss of Joleon Lescott in the warm-up – the defender will require a scan on his hamstring today but will miss Wednesday’s game against his former club – and Zoltan Gera’s early opportunity, hacked from his goal-line by Kolo Toure. They tore upfield to open the scoring as Bellamy’s shot flicked off Aaron Hughes and on to the post for Roque Santa Cruz to convert.
That deflated the hosts and City were content to probe until Bellamy skipped down the left and, in the absence of Baird, enticed Hughes from his central role before releasing Tevez into the space to slip in his 22nd goal of a productive season.
Guardian service
