After many disappointments in a season that got off to a terrible start for Pep Guardiola's side, Manchester City only needed a simple win over Fulham to secure their place in the next Champions League. This time, the Citzens didn't disappoint and ended the Premier League season on 71 points, in third place.
Needing a favorable result from the start of the match, City adopted a very aggressive offensive posture and were dominant throughout the first half with a strong intensity on both sides of the pitch. It's worth noting that City could have scored several goals, but the score remained at 1-0 after an absolutely spectacular bicycle kick from Matheus Nunes.
The Cottagers improved their performance just before the break and gave the Ctizens a scare with well-worked balls from Cairney and Andreas Pereira, but their finishing lacked finesse. After the break, Manchester City took control of the offensive action once again.
Doku had a shot blocked at the far post and came very close to scoring a second goal, and Fulham had a huge opportunity afterwards with Raúl Jiménez failing to get his shot away from the opposing goalkeeper. This mistake proved costly, and City scored their second goal through Erling Haaland, after Lkic had given away a penalty to Gundogan.
Controlling the result very well against a Fulham side that was no longer intense in its search for a win, the final minutes were marked by an emotional farewell from Kevin De Bruyne, who entered the field and received effusive applause from the entire stadium, in a demonstration of the Belgian's greatness in Premier League history.
How should Manchester City assess their final result?
All seemed lost for Manchester City at one point in the season, but ending the season with 71 points scored and third place in the Premier League shows that there are reasons for Pep Guardiola to regain full confidence in his work and go in search of the FIFA Club World Cup title.