Manchester City 5 Fulham 4: City player ratings from a match that didn’t make sense

Manchester City 5 (Erling Haaland 17′, Tijjani Reijnders 37′, Phil Foden 44′, 48′, Sander Berge OG 54)

Fulham 4 (Emile Smith-Rowe 45+1′, Alex Iwobi 57′, Samuel Chukwueze 72′, 78′)

Here are the City player ratings as Manchester City beat Fulham 5-4 at Craven Cottage tonight in a match that was the perfect advertisement for the Premier League. Tonight’s match was an end-to-end classic, and Pep Guardiola’s side survived the threat of a Fulham side that wouldn’t accept defeat.

The City player ratings reflect the match where several Manchester City players stood out with their performances, and others struggled as Fulham fought back in the game’s closing stages.

City player ratings.

Gianluigi Donnarumma-6/10: Made one good save and could do very little about any of Fulham’s goals.

Matheus Nunes-5.5/10: Like Nico O’Reilly he got forward well but Fulham had joy getting in behind him at times.

Ruben Dias-5.5/10: His timing was just off with Manchester City’s offside trap and that caught his team out on several occasions. 

Josko Gvardiol-6/10: Gvardiol was very good in possession but defensively he wasn’t at his best. 

Nico O’Reilly-5.5/10: Was dangerous going forward but struggled defensively as Fulham targeted the young left-back. 

Nico-6.5/10: When City dominated the games’ early stages, Nico was at the heart of it. He drifted out of the game before he was replaced by John Stones for a much-needed rest.

Bernardo Silva-6/10: Toiled away in midfield but tonight’s match wasn’t suited to his strengths. 

Tijjani Reijnders-7.5/10: Tonight was Reijnders’ best performance since the opening day of the season. He took his goal well and was a lot more dangerous going forward. 

Phil Foden-9/10: Bagged a brace and was Manchester City’s best player on the night. Is back to his best and that has stood out as he has now scored four goals in two matches.

Jeremy Doku-8.5/10: Another devastating display from Doku. Set up Haaland’s opening goal, and it was his ball that set up Foden’s second goal of the night. His game has gone up a level as his strong form continued.

Erling Haaland-8/10: Scored his 100th Premier League goal tonight and his assist for Tijjani Reijnders goal was superb. Hit the bar twice in a quality performance from Haaland.

Substitutes.

John Stones-5/10: Replaced Nico in Manchester City’s midfield and didn’t give his team the control they needed to see out the game.

Savinho-5/10: Came on for the game’s closing stages and struggled to make an impact. He is indecisive going forward and on other occasions he seems to be trying to do too much.

Rayan Cherki-N/A: Not on long enough to mark.