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  • Kick-off: 15:00
  • Venue: City of Manchester Stadium
  • Attendance: 43643
  • Referee: Dean, M

Live Commentary

93 mins

And it's over and the comeback is complete. How crucial will those three points turn out to be for Fulham in their fight for survival. City will feel they gifted it to Fulham but the visitors really deserved that victory.

92 mins

Murphy finding Kamara in behind the defense and he buried the finish into the bottom corner to surely win all three points. What a finish - What a turn around!

90 mins

End to end stuff here as both sides try to find a winner - Keller is forced into a great save after Petrov broke down the middle and his shot was well struck but the save was excellent.

89 mins

What a wasted chance, Benjani was in the clear but he decided to try and find Caceido and in the end the chance goes begging. Fulham could have had all their work undone there.

87 mins

Cross coming in from the right hand side, could play from Geovanni and Petrov taking it on the volley to strike but it goes just over the bar.

85 mins

A quick free-kick, Caceido finding Benjani and it fell for Geovanni who struck it first time but it could only find the side netting. The Fulham fans had their hearts in their mouths there.

83 mins

Another Fulham chance, Simon Davies clipping a cross in and Clint Dempsey rose to head goalwards but Hart saves. It's all Fulham here!

82 mins

Jimmy Bullard driving on from midfield and striking a shot from a good 25 yards, Hart was beaten but it just shaved the top of the bar.

81 mins

Geovanni breaking down the right and into the area rifling a shot across the goal but wide. Fulham need to be weary of the counter-attack.

80 mins

Felipe Caicedo comes on to replace Darius Vassell - Sven trying to regain some sort of control over this game.

78 mins

Danny Murphy with a poor penalty, saved by Hart but it falls straight back to Murphy who tucks it home to score a fourth goal of the campaign and get Fulham back on terms.

78 mins

Eric Nevland wins a penalty after Konchesky's cross came in. Nevland was hauled down and it was a definite penalty.

76 mins

Stalteri roaming down the right wing but his cross is poor and Sun Jihai is able to clear the ball back where it came from for a Fulham throw.

73 mins

Petrov sneaking in from the left hand touch line and unleashing a shot goalbound but it goes fractionally wide of Keller's near post.

72 mins

Fulham sparked into life by that goal and they have a free-kick about 20 yards from goal - Bullard takes it and just as it is heading for the top corner Joe Hart flies through the air to catch and save.

70 mins

Brian McBride replaced by Eric Nevland - A like for like switch upfront.

70 mins

A long ball upfield and Corluka makes a mess of it, Kamara pounces on it and somehow manages to squeeze it through the legs of Joe Hart to bring Fulham back into this one.

67 mins

Hangelaand again getting the clearing header and Benjani looked to get on the end of the high cross and Stalteri finishes the job with a long clearance upfield.

64 mins

Diomansy Kamara coming into the frame now to replace David Healy - Can this injection of pace give Fulham a chance to claw their way back into this one.

63 mins

A very good effort from the ever populat Jimmy Bullard but Hart watches it just miss the frame of the goal and go wide.

62 mins

Free-kick awarded to Fulham after Simon Davies was up ended my Michael Ball after a good passage of passing from the visitors. Jimmy Bullard will fancy this one.

61 mins

Sloppy defending again from Fulham and Benjani opening them up with a great turn of pace down the left hand side and he cut it back to Petrov in space, but he drags the shot wide.

60 mins

Aaron Hughes recovering well after Vassell had gotten goalside, the block sends the ball out for a corner which Petrov takes - Benjani gets a free header but puts it well over.

58 mins

City keeping the ball at the back comfortably just making Fulham chase it here. The frustration is growing among the Fulham forwards.

55 mins

Goal scorer Stephen Ireland is coming off and the Brazilian Geovanni is on to replace him. Geovanni will add even more pace to the City attack.

55 mins

Brade Hangelaand smothering everything in the air, winning every battle against Benjani. Hopefully the other Fulham players can follow his lead.

52 mins

Simon Davies cautioned for a late challenge on Sun Jihai, to be honest, if the tackle didn't earn him the booking then Jihai's exaggerated reaction did.

50 mins

Well City have doubled their count for shots on target with two so far in the second half. Fulham under pressure from the home side.

49 mins

Another good save from Keller, Benjani finding space and striking goalbound and the American had to make a good stop or Fulham would have fallen further behind.

48 mins

The Fulham back four picked apart once more and Vassell managing to break into space and his left footed shot forced a good save from Keller.

47 mins

A very slow start to the second half, neither side able to keep hold of the ball for more than a few passes.

46 mins

Well the second period is underway - Fulham know that a defeat here will be costly so expect them to have a real go at City in the next 45 minutes.

45 mins

Mike Dean brings the first half to a close and while Fulham have had their chances, Hart has kept goal well and two well crafted goals leave City two up and cruising. Fulham are desperate now.

45 mins

An opportunity to get good service into the strikers but Bullard's cross can only pick out the arms of Joe Hart.

45 mins

Two minutes of stoppage time to be played. Can Fulham nick one and get themselves back in it?

43 mins

Sorry for the lack of update, but Clint Dempsey was recieving treatment after being struck in a rather tender area by a cross.

40 mins

Brian McBride looked a little stunned as it fell to him after Ball turned it against his own player but Sun Jihai got in for a crucial saving tackle. Bullard had a shot off the rebound which David Healy tried to deflect in but no luck for the striker

38 mins

Lovely piece of play from Stephen Ireland lifting the ball over the defense for Vassell to run onto, but the flag was raised to a chorus of boos from the home fans.

35 mins

And they do pick it up, a well placed cross finds David Healy who leaps well from around five yards but Joe Hart makes a good reaction stop to turn it over.

35 mins

Fulham keeping the ball for a long period here but there is just not a sense of urgency, and in the end McBride is penalised as the ball is aimlessly lobbed into him. Fulham need to pick it up or they could be down.

31 mins

Terrific ball from Johnson over Stalteri into the path of Petrov who made about ten yards on the defender to force a corner.

30 mins

Good play from Bullard, turning back inside and playing it across the box but McBride can't quite get it out of his feet to get a shot away and the attack breaks down.

29 mins

Elano showing his range of passing from his unusual position of right full back, playing hanging diagonal balls across to Petrov and finding him everytime.

27 mins

Nice passage of passing from Fulham results in a shot from Clint Dempsey which is blocked by Corluka and goes for a corner - Bullard's corner is headed out by Benjani with ease.

26 mins

A great piece of distribution from Joe Hart pinging it out to Benjani on the flank who controls it well on his chest and gets behind Konchesky but the defenders recover and clear.

25 mins

Elano looks to have recovered and will come back on as soon as the referee waves him the go ahead.

24 mins

Clint Demspey goes into the book for leading with his arm in a challenge with Elano. The Brazilian has gone down and the stretcher is preparing to come on.

23 mins

That's a crushing, and possibly telling blow for Fulham's survival hopes. They are being opened up dangerously easily and all the travelling fans can hope for now is that Reading, Birmingham and Bolton lose aswell.

21 mins

Link up play from Vassell and Elano and the brazilian just rolled it across the box to Benjani who tucked it past the keeper to make this lead comfortable for the home side.

19 mins

Nice piece of play from Petrov on the left almost picking out Vassell with a cross but it was just too high for the Englishmen.

17 mins

A shot from Jimmy Bullard forcing a good save from Hart down to the ground and the parry almost fell for David Healy. Close but no cigar for Fulham.

17 mins

Wonderful turn of pace from Petrov causing problems and beating Stalteri, almost finding Vasselll but again Brade Hangelaand was there to win the ball back.

16 mins

The home fans urging Vassell forward down the wing on the counter but Hangelaan doing well coming across to win the ball and play it back to Keller.

13 mins

A slip from Keller coming out of his ground on the right and Benjani almost profiting but it just ran out of play before he could gather the ball.

12 mins

Thats a real blow for Fulham after a bright start - How will they react to going behind?

11 mins

Mistake from Stalteri gifted position to Ireland who swapped passes with Petrov and curled it up and over Kasey Keller to give the home side the lead against the run of play.

9 mins

Bullard with a free-kick from around 35 yards and urging Hangelaand to go forward, the ball went just over him but found McBride who turned it back across goal and Elano is forced to put it out for a corner. Good start for Fulham.

6 mins

Great chance for Clint Dempsey who was fed by Simon Davies and Dempsey's shot was well saved by Joe Hart one handed down to his left.

5 mins

Good link up play down the right hand side which left Simon Davies in space but his cross missed everyone and went out for a goal kick.

4 mins

Michael Johnson clips a nice ball across from the left hand side which Elano meets coming forward from right back to side foot but he lifts the volley onto the roof of the net.

2 mins

First free-kick of the game going Fulham's way, Jimmy Bullard drives it in but it comes straight back to home and the scramble results in an offside flag against Davies.

0 mins

Referee Mike Dean gets this game underway.

0 mins

The visitors come with an unchanged side from their rather disappointing defeat to Liverpool. Hodgson will be hoping McBride, Healy and Dempsey will provide the fire power to earn a precious three points.

0 mins

For City, the only change sees Jihai come in for the injured captain Richard Dunne at the back.

0 mins

Man City: Hart, Elano, Corluka, Ball, Jihai, Vassell, Gelson, Johnson, Petrov, Ireland, Mwaruwari

0 mins

Fulham: Keller, Stalteri, Hangeland, Hughes, Konchesky, Davies, Bullard, Murphy, Dempsey, Healy, McBride

0 mins

For Fulham, the situation is a little more desperate and if they lose today, they may go down. They really need a win today.

0 mins

The home side will hope to carry on from an impressive win over Pompey last week to end their season on a high.

0 mins

Hello and welcome to the City of Manchester Stadium, home of Man City who host relegation strugglers Fulham today.

Match Report

Fulham's bid to beat the drop from the Premier League could come to an end this weekend if they are defeated at Manchester City.

The Cottagers are five points adrift of safety with just three games to play, having been beaten 2-0 at home by Liverpool last time out.

City, meanwhile, are still in the hunt for a European place, having won 3-1 at home to rivals Portsmouth last Sunday, although the game was overshadowed by continuing speculation about boss Sven-Goran Eriksson's future.

The Swede's position has been placed in doubt by comments from owner Thaksin Shinawatra, but Eriksson remains focused on the job in hand.

He said after the win over Pompey: "Am I worried that I still have a job? No, I'm not worried at all, absolutely not. You can't go on in life and be worried about things like that.

"This was important for the team, the club, the fans and with three games to play, we still have a small possibility to play in Europe, so that's good."

Eriksson currently has defenders Micah Richards and Nedum Onuoha sidelined by injury, while centre-half Richard Dunne is a major doubt with a hamstring injury.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson's position has also been called into question, with the Londoners staring down the barrel of relegation.

Hodgson is aware that the situation is very perilous, commenting: "The trouble is we have been flirting with this situation for the last few seasons.

"If we get out of it, as I still hope we will, it is going to be very close again, but it is never going to be easy to get a foothold (in the Premier League)."

Finnish goalkeeper Antti Niemi may be drafted in after recovering from an Achilles injury, with his deputy Kasey Keller having struggled for consistency in recent weeks.

Hodgson's attack will be led by Brian McBride, but the Cottagers boss then has to choose at least one from Diomansy Kamara, David Healy and Erik Nevland, as his side need to go looking for goals.

Earlier this season the two sides played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Craven Cottage.

Manchester City

Fulham

Corners

3 4

Fouls

9 7

Goal attempts

12 19

Shots off target

6 5

Offsides

4 2

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