Julián Álvarez’s screamer earns win at Fulham to send Manchester City top

The illusion of competitiveness is fading fast. Manchester City are finally back on their perch and there is little reason to think they are going to let Arsenal back in after digging out another crucial win on a fiery afternoon at Craven Cottage.

Arsenal, of course, can regain top spot by beating Chelsea on Tuesday night. Mikel Arteta is desperate for his young side to keep going until the final day, and perhaps he will motivate them by claiming he saw signs of a City choke. Fulham had certainly given the champions a tougher time than Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Liverpool managed – and Pep Guardiola must have been relieved to hear the final whistle after eight minutes of stoppage time.

There was a flurry of pressure from a combative Fulham during the second half. The referee, Simon Hooper, was the subject of local derision after waving away appeals for a penalty for Ruben Dias’s risky challenge on Bobby Decordova-Reid. But it still ended with City clutching the points. They had weathered the storm. Unlike Arsenal, they had enough maturity and experience to hold out when the heat was on.

That they did it with Kevin De Bruyne not fit enough to take part was the scary thing. No matter. Erling Haaland scored his 50th goal in all competitions and JuliánÁlvarez kept City’s hopes of winning the treble alive with a spectacular winner.

Fulham made a contest of it. There was a sense that this might be a non-event when the home fans roared appreciatively at some closing down from Decordova-Reid during the opening minute, briefly interrupting a long spell of City possession. On balance it seemed a minor victory. Kyle Walker wandered to the right touchline to throw the ball back into play and City were back in motion. They moved the