Haaland hat-trick helps pacesetters Man City thrash Fulham 5-1

(Corrects number of hat-tricks to five in paragraph eight)

MANCHESTER, England :Manchester City's goalscoring machine Erling Haaland netted a second-half hat-trick in a 5-1 thrashing of Fulham on Saturday as the Premier League pacesetters maintained their 100 per cent record.

Julian Alvarez and Nathan Ake opened the scoring for the champions, who have beaten Fulham in their last 15 league meetings, and top the table with 12 points from four games.

But clinical Haaland stole the show yet again with another predatory performance at the Etihad Stadium.

"I'm back. No problem for me. I'm always hungry. It's a new season and I'm ready for it," Haaland said of his hat-trick.

"It started a bit sloppy but we ended in a good way. Important win. We go into the international break having won four in four. Good start to the season."

Fulham, who had scored an equaliser through Tim Ream before being overrun, have four points from their four games.

Haaland, who broke several scoring records last term, added another by becoming the fastest to reach 50 goal involvements in the Premier League with his first of the afternoon. He now has 43 goals and nine assists in 39 Premier League appearances.

The Norwegian has netted six goals this season and five Premier League hat-tricks since joining City last summer.

CONTROVERSIAL MOMENT

The most controversial moment of the game was Ake's goal seconds before halftime, which appeared set to be ruled out as Manuel Akanji was standing in an offside position in front of Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno and jumped over the ball on its way into the net. But VAR ruled that the goal was valid.

Fulham manager Marco Silva vented his frustration over the decision to referee Michael Oliver.

Alvarez had broken open what had