Erling Haaland sends 10-man Man City top in win against Fulham

Erling Haaland helped Manchester City back to the top of the table with a stoppage-time penalty as they edged out Fulham 2-1 despite being reduced to 10 men.

City started with Haaland on the bench given his recent injury issues, but that did not seem to matter at first as his stand-in Julian Alvarez opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a sweet strike off the underside of the bar.

Pep Guardiola’s side had the ball in the net again when John Stones turned home from close range following a save from Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno, but it was ruled offside.

Fulham made City regret that moments later in the 26th minute when they were awarded a penalty which Andreas Pereira slotted home after Joao Cancelo was sent off for bringing down Harry Wilson.

Haaland came on for Alvarez and looked to have restored City’s lead with a header from Kevin de Bruyne’s cross in the 74th minute, but the Norway striker was judged to be offside.

But Haaland would have the last laugh from the penalty spot after De Bruyne was tripped by Antonee Robinson in the fourth minute of injury time.