Man City vs Fulham VAR howler explained as David Silva ventures into new career

Here are your Manchester City evening headlines on Wednesday, September 6.

Nathan Ake's controversial goal for Manchester City against Fulham should have been ruled out, admits Howard Webb.

Ake headed City into a 2-1 lead against Fulham in the weekend Premier League clash but Manuel Akanji was standing in an offside position. Fulham complained he was obstructing goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who seemed to hesitate before diving in case the ball flicked off the City man.

But referee Michael Oliver awarded the goal and VAR Tony Harrington confirmed the call with help from his assistant Adam Nunn. Fulham boss Marco Silva was angry with the decision while City striker Erling Haaland, who went on to score a hat-trick as the Blues won 5-1, said he thought the goal should have been ruled out.

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And Webb admitted the decision was wrong. Speaking on ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ on Sky Sports on Tuesday, which showed some of the key VAR decisions that have been made in the opening month of the top flight, he said: “From the outset, I want to say this should have been disallowed."

Read more here.

David Silva is one of three former Manchester City players to have a statue outside of the Etihad Stadium, and became the final of the trio to retire.

The Spaniard was forced to follow the footsteps of Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany and hang up his boots after suffering a significant knee injury in pre-season at Real Sociedad. Silva helped City to their maiden Premier League title in 2012 before going on to grab three more.

He left the Blues in 2020 having also won two FA Cups, five League Cups and two Community Shields across his 10-year stay. He became a Spanish