Manchester City are top of the Premier League for the first time since February 17 thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Pep Guardiola’s men were pushed until the end by Fulham, who stuck doggedly with the in-form champions throughout the match.
Far more experienced top-flight sides might have crumbled when Erling Haaland netted his 50th goal of the season from the penalty spot after just three minutes.
However, Fulham managed to find a leveller a little over 10 minutes later through Carlos Vinicius, who has struggled for goals since he became a regular starter in the absence of the suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic.
It took a touch of class from Julian Alvarez to restored the visitors’ advantage in the first half, superbly curling home what proved to be the winner.
It was Fulham who looked most likely to score again as the game neared its conclusion, but City held on to move above Arsenal.
Haaland made no mistakes with his powerful penalty just three minutes in after Tim Ream, who has been a mainstay of the Fulham defence this campaign, was judged to have brought down Alvarez in the box.
The goal all-but killed any forward momentum from Fulham who reverted to a defensive formation to try and curb City’s attacking threat.
Jack Grealish had a low drive saved by Leno in the 14th minute, but Fulham found an equaliser against the run of play just moments later.
Vinicius, who had only scored two goals previously this season, thrashed a fine finish past Ederson in the 15th minute.
The forward, who has been criticised by the home fans in recent weeks for his lack of end product, was in the right place after Harry Wilson flicked the ball down into his path, and made no mistake with his left-foot strike.
Fulham were dealt a blow in the 20th minute with the loss of on-field captain Ream, who slipped trying to make a tackle and landed awkwardly on his arm.
City maintained their pressure on the Fulham defence, with Leno called into action again to tip a Grealish effort onto the bar and Antonee Robinson denying Alvarez at the far post.
The visitors restored on 36 minutes, with a stunning curled strike into the corner from Alvarez.
The Argentinian held off the defenders to create an opening outside of the box before taking his shot.
City started the second half in the same manner they finished the first, with Leno diving low to his right to deny a low effort from Haaland.
Andreas Pereira was carried off on a stretcher following a coming-together with Manuel Akanji, forcing manager Marco Silva into his second unplanned change of the afternoon.
Fulham had a chance to score a second leveller when Vinicius was played in down the left side of the box, but Ederson was just able to gather and deny the forward a shot at what would have been an empty goal.
Tempers flared briefly between Grealish and Kenny Tete as Fulham felt they should have been given a penalty when Bobby De Cordova-Reid was brought down in the box, but Hooper waved play on.
The game finished in tense fashion, but City are back at the summit of the Premier League – a point ahead of the Gunners having played a game fewer.
'We are lucky to have him' - Guardiola admits Ederson exit was close
Pep Guardiola admitted that Ederson came close to leaving Manchester City in the transfer window but stayed because a fee could not be agreed.
The Brazilian was linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League in the off-season, with both Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad both reportedly interested in his signature.
Since joining the club in June 2017, Ederson has kept 113 clean sheets in 257 Premier League appearances, more than any other goalkeeper in the competition since his debut.
He has won 15 major trophies with City, including six Premier Leagues, two FA Cups and a Champions League title, as well as the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup.
Ederson has played in all seven of City's Premier League matches so far this season, keeping just one clean sheet and conceding eight goals from an expected goals on target (xGoT) of 8.54.
Guardiola is delighted that he was able to keep hold of Ederson, who continues to play a pivotal role in the team.
"He is an important figure with our team," Guardiola told the club's website.
"We are lucky to have him, and I hope he is happy. Eddy knows us really well and what we have to do.
"He knew from day one that I didn't want him to leave. The truth is the offer didn't come. The real offer.
"They make an offer but the keeper, who won four Premier Leagues in a row, he has a value and a price. Otherwise, he cannot leave.
“If the offer did come, maybe he should not be here. This is the truth.
"Ederson is so strong, but when he changed his mind, in one second he said he is here, and he is going to do his best."
Premier League MD7: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
There were plenty of thrills and spills across the board in the Premier League as matchday seven ran its course.
Manchester City and Arsenal both had to come from behind to beat Fulham and Southampton respectively at home, while there were eight goals scored as Brentford overcame Wolves 5-3, with six of those strikes coming in the first half in west London.
Liverpool kept themselves ahead at the summit thanks to a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, while Manchester United stopped the rot by holding Aston Villa, albeit they have now tallied up their lowest points total after seven games of any Premier League season.
Leicester City, meanwhile, grabbed their first win of the campaign, while Anthony Gordon endured a miserable return to Goodison Park with Newcastle United. In the final fixture of the weekend, Brighton stunned Tottenham, forging a second-half comeback to win 3-2 at the Amex Stadium.
So, after all that, who were the unlucky, and lucky, teams based on the underlying metrics?
Lucky winners: Leicester City
Leicester finally got their first top-flight win of the season on the board, as they edged out Bournemouth 1-0 thanks to Facundo Buonanotte's excellent run and finish.
But, it's fair to say it was something of a smash-and-grab for Steve Cooper's team at the King Power Stadium. Leicester had just six shots, with only two of those hitting the target, and they tallied up just 0.79 expected goals (xG).
On the other hand, Bournemouth had 19 attempts, creating five big chances (a tally bettered only by Brentford's eight and West Ham's nine this week) and accumulating 2.16 xG.
Bournemouth only have themselves to blame for wasteful finishing – they got just two of their efforts on target – but the Cherries can still consider themselves unfortunate.
Unlucky losers: Newcastle
Determined to impress against his former club, Gordon fluffed his lines when his big moment arrived as Newcastle drew 0-0 with Everton on Saturday.
With James Tarkowski having conceded a penalty by recklessly pulling the shirt of Sandro Tonali, Gordon stepped up to the spot, but Jordan Pickford guessed the right way.
While Everton wanted a penalty of their own in the second half, the Toffees were largely second-best and that is backed up by the metrics. Even discounting Gordon's spot-kick, Newcastle finished with 1.26 xG and 14 shots. The hosts accumulated 0.67 xG and had eight attempts.
Lucky winners: Man City
It's not often that the champions are given a run for their money at home, but Fulham did just that.
Indeed, Fulham finished with 2.6 xG at the Etihad Stadium, the fourth-highest total across the league this weekend, while they created five big chances.
Pep Guardiola has said he is not concerned by Man City's unusually open defence, but he will want to see better from his team in that regard after the international break.
Going forward, City benefited from three excellent finishes - two from Mateo Kovacic and one from Jeremy Doku. Their 1.57 xG came from 20 shots, though they created only one big chance.
Guardiola not concerned despite Manchester City's poor defensive record
Pep Guardiola is not worried about Manchester City's defending despite the reigning champions failing to keep a clean sheet in their last six Premier League matches.
City went 1-0 down against Fulham before fighting back to win 3-2 on Saturday. Their opponents also amassed an expected goals (xG) total of 2.4 compared to City's 1.55.
It follows a trend of unusually sloppy defensive displays from the champions, who have conceded eight goals in their last six league matches. They also had to come from behind against Brentford in September.
Guardiola, however, is not overly worried.
"Sometimes I give credit. The first goal – why don't we give credit to them rather than [be critical] defensively? There are actions we can defend better but step by step we will improve," he said, via the Guardian.
"I would say except [Yoane] Wissa against Brentford, in the other ones we were playing good. It's not nice to come back from 0-1 but we created chances today to go 1-0 and 2-0."
City allowed Fulham five big chances compared to their one, with the London side taking 11 shots, nine of those from inside the box.
Comparatively, City had 20 shots with only half of those coming from inside the box. However, two of the visitors’ goals came from outside the area with Jeremy Doku and Mateo Kovacic both firing in from distance.
"I'm very happy he scored two goals, he's not a guy to score [usually] those goals," Guardiola said of Kovacic, who is one of the midfielders the City boss expects to fill in for the injured Rodri this season.
“We started really well with two chances in two minutes and they switched immediately to five at the back. When they do that, we have one man free on the 18-yard box and that is Kovacic.
"The two goals were because they couldn't defend that. We have to exploit that more against teams that don’t play five at the back – now opponents know that they can’t leave him [Kovacic] alone, otherwise he will score a goal."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
