By Ewan Murray
Manchester City eased past a woeful Fulham on Saturday at Craven Cottage, beating the west London side 4-0 with an emphatic display.
Josko Gvardiol has given Man City an early lead to settle any nerves with an excellent finish and he grabbed his second of the game after the break following Phil Foden's excellent strike. Julian Alvarez added some gloss to the scoreline with a late penalty.
The result moves Man City back to the top of the Premier League table before Arsenal's clash with Manchester United on Sunday.
Here is how X users reacted to a big clash in thePremier League title race.
Arsenal's hopes of a Man City slip-up in west London were dampened after just 13 minutes, with the reigning champions storming into an early lead.
Gvardiol, who has turned into a goal machine in recent weeks, found the back of the net once again, delicately passing an excellent effort past Bernd Leno with his weaker right boot.
Fulham had barely laid a glove on Man City in a first half utterly dominated by the visitors, with Pep Guardiola's side finishing the half with 67% possession and seven shots to the hosts' zero.
Any hopes of an upset in the title race looked increasingly slim heading into the second half.
Those slim hopes were completely extinguished just before the hour mark as Man City doubled their advantage to put the game to bed.
It was, unsurprisingly, the excellent Foden that gave Man City breathing room, firing a right-footed effort past Leno to wrap up the points.
Just in case Fulham hadn't suffered enough, Gvardiol's transformation into prime Ronaldo Nazario was completed with 20 minutes to play.
Bernardo Silva's wonderful far-post cross was delicately prodded home by the big Croatian defender, who now has five goals in his last seven games from left-back.
Julian Alvarez netted a late penalty for Man City and Issa Diop was handed a second yellow card for following the Argentine in the box, adding a little extra spice to a commanding victory for the world champions.
There were certainly mixed emotions on social media among Man City and Arsenal fans, with the latter now relying on north London rivals Tottenham to do them a favour midweek.
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This article was originally published on 90min.com as X reacts as Man City fire four past Fulham to leapfrog title rivals Arsenal.
