Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku scored and created two more goals in seven blistering first-half minutes before adding two more assists in the second period as the champions hammered Bournemouth 6-1 to go top of the Premier League last night.
Bernardo Silva netted twice but it was Belgian winger Doku who caught the eye as he dug into his bag of attacking tricks to lay the foundations for a dominant win by the home side, who lost leading striker Erling Haaland to injury at half-time.
After probing carefully for the opening half-hour, Pep Guardiola’s free-flowing City finally opened the scoring on the half-hour mark when Doku played a slick one-two with Rodri on the edge of the box before guiding the ball home.
Three minutes later Doku’s dazzling footwork left the Bournemouth defence flat-footed as he squared for Silva to score the second, and in the 37th minute his left foot shot was deflected into the net by teammate Manuel Akanji.
Having hit the post with a first-half header, Haaland limped towards the tunnel at the break and did not reappear for the second half as Phil Foden replaced him.
The visitors thought they had pulled a goal back soon after the break but Dominic Solanke’s effort was ruled out after a VAR check found winger Ryan Christie was offside in the build-up.
Doku continued to run at the visiting defence and in the 64th he set up Foden for a close-range finish to make it 4-1.
Bournemouth's Luis Sinisterra came on to score for the Cherries but a superb chipped effort by Silva and diving header by Nathan Ake sealed the win to send City top on 27 points, one ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, who host Chelsea tomorrow night.
In an earlier Premier League game, Manchester United stopped the rot as captain Bruno Fernandes struck in the 90th minute for a 1-0 victory at Fulham.
The game was sinking into a lacklustre stalemate when the skipper latched on to a loose ball on the edge of the area and drilled a low skidding shot inside the post.
Successive 3-0 home defeats in United’s worst start to a season since 1962, had piled pressure on manager Erik ten Hag and victory at Craven Cottage will release that somewhat.
But while the victory was most welcome, questions still remain about where United are heading under the Dutchman after another rather shapeless display.
A third successive narrow away win in the league lifted United to sixth with 18 points for 11 games ahead of the rest of the weekend programme.
Fulham — who were twice denied by Andre Onana’s great saves in the second half, and will count themselves unlucky — are down in 14th with 12 points.
Fernandes has come under fire in recent weeks with former United title winners Gary Neville and Roy Keane both suggesting he should have the armband taken away after some petulant performances.
But he answered with a crucial goal when his team needed it most, although the win may only be papering over cracks.
The only talking point of a mundane first-half was Scott McTominay’s disallowed goal for United after seven minutes.
Christian Eriksen’s flighted free kick was turned across the area by Alejandro Garnacho and McTominay arrived to dispatch the ball high into the net. But United’s celebrations were cut short after a drawn-out VAR check with referee John Brooks going to the monitor to rule it out on the basis that Harry Maguire, who was initially offside, had been interfering with play.
That was about the sum total of United’s attacking threat with a tame Fernandes effort easily saved by Bernd Leno.
Willian was Fulham’s brightest spark with an early shot blocked and some dangerous balls into the area while visiting keeper Onana made one save from Harry Wilson.
A stadium staff announcement that “Mr Bishop had left the stadium” was greeted with chuckles, with the majority of the lunchtime crowd tempted to join him.
It was not a lot better in the early stages of the second half but things suddenly livened up with Onana forced into superb saves in the space of a frantic minute. First he palmed away a fierce swerving effort by Wilson and then reacted well to keep out Joao Palhinha’s effort.
Rodrigo Muniz then headed a chance over as United’s defence creaked.
A 0-0 draw would have done little to lift the United gloom but Fernandes at least gave the visiting fans something to cheer with his well-timed intervention.
