Manchester City 3-0 Fulham: Erling Haaland kept the game safe with a fine finish before half-time after Antoine Semenho and Nico O’Reilly put City in the lead.
Haaland scores again for Man City (Image: Getty Images)
For 20 minutes, nothing went right for Antoine Semenyo. He was involved in some promising moves, but unfortunately his involvement generally meant those moves ended up with unproductive results.
That’s the type of player he is, Semenyo. For long spells, he can act strangely. He may seem out of rhythm with his teammates.
But this is the player Pep Guardiola needed, someone who could share the attacking burden with Erling Haaland.
A player who can detect weaknesses, a player who is skillful without being too precise, a player who is always on the lookout for defensive mistakes, and full-backs and center-backs alike are in pain.
He can play wide or centrally, but above all he is a genuine striker.
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He was predatory and expected Sander Berge’s misdirected header to give them the lead after 20 ineffective minutes.
He is capable of choosing simple and effective passes, as Nico O’Reilly rounded off a powerful counter-attack for Manchester City’s second goal.
And he was able to act as a diversion, giving Haaland the space to collect Phil Foden’s deft short pass and score his first Premier League goal in nearly eight weeks.
This made it three goals by the break and Guardiola did not risk Haaland in the second half after the striker received a knock who had played a role in the build-up to O’Reilly’s beauty.
The problem shouldn’t have been too serious, as Haaland remained fit enough to play long enough to score his 22nd Premier League goal of the season, but Semenyo’s signing at least reassures Guardiola that he has an alternative if the worst happens.
Semenyo continued his impressive start to life at Etihad (Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Either way, Haaland will need to manage his minutes in City’s busy final game of the season.
And the same goes for the other key players. With the advantage still at three after an hour, Guardiola was able to give Bernardo Silva some breathing room, which was no surprise given his efforts in recent games.
If City were to push Arsenal all the way, no player would have played a more important role than Silva.
Remarkably, Silva, 31, seems to be getting more and more indomitable as he ages.
In the first half, the game was mostly played against Fulham, who were pleasant to watch, with no threat of an upset.
They should have caused havoc on the scoreboard, but Gianluigi Donnarumma continued his decent form and squandered several openings with some surprisingly sloppy passing.
And in the second half, there were more substitutions than attempts on goal, and the game completely came to nothing.
Although the result was decided, City’s attacking performance was a little disappointing, but although it had little impact, the quality of the substitutes was noticeable.
It is clear that City’s squad, which has an increasingly healthy squad, will be able to keep the pressure on Arsenal.
And Semenyo has people who are ahead of the curve.
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