Man City 5-1 Fulham: Player ratings as Haaland bags three in comfortable win

Manchester City's perfect start to the Premier League season continued on Saturday as they secured a 5-1 victory over a spirited Fulham.

It took a while for the defending champions to get going but Julian Alvarez eventually poked his side ahead, only for Tim Ream to square things up almost immediately, but City would end the first half ahead when Nathan Ake headed home shortly before the whistle.

Erling Haaland got himself in on the fun on the hour mark, netted a second from the penalty spot ten minutes later to remove any doubt about the result and thundered home a third in stoppage time.

Four wins from four for City, who remain top of the league, while Fulham remain in the bottom half.

It was a cagey (in other words, boring) start to the game, with Fulham understandably cautious and City surprisingly sloppy in possession.

Unlike the spectators baking in the Manchester sunshine, Fulham were comfortable for the first 25 minutes but did receive a warning when Phil Foden got in behind and volleyed a cross straight across the six-yard box in the direction of Haaland, who was a few yards away from making contact.

Foden looked like the danger man as his mazy run into the box was followed by another cut-back which, yet again, failed to find its giant Norwegian target.

The first shot of the game came 31 minutes in, and it ended up in the back of the net courtesy of Alvarez, who tapped home from six yards after a square-ball from Haaland.

With the floodgates now opened, Fulham went straight up the other end and equalised as Ream was there to mop up the scraps after Raul Jimenez's strike was parried into his path.

But it would be City who had the last laugh of the first half as Ake headed home from a corner and survived a nervy VAR