Fulham 6 : 2 Bristol City

There are some Liverpool and Chelsea fans who have been writing the ‘EPL is still wide open’ articles around the yard that passes for football journalism.

If one’s going to appear at least on this site, it will have to come from elsewhere but oddly no Rotherham, Ipswich or Watford fan has asked to do one.

But one team at least can claim to have overtaken Manchester City this weekend. On Saturday morning, Pep Guardiola’s City had a goal difference of +40. In second place were Fulham FC, then not even at the top of the Championship, with +39.

City all but ended Chelsea’s fading title hopes with a 1-0 win.

Fulham folowed up their 7-0 away win at Reading with a 6-2 win over a Bristol City side who were far from poor on the day. In doing so their goal difference lept to +43 although City have three games in hand. Southampton. Brentford and Norwich seem unlikely to prevent 41 becoming much more, so Fulham may enjoy this moment while it lasts.

Out of interest, Bayern Munich also have +43 following their earlier 4-0 win in Cologne driven by a Robert Lewandowski hat-trick.

Only Ajax with +55 in the decidedly unbalanced Dutch League are out there in front. They have seven 5-0 wins this season and a 9-0 against Leeuwarden side SC Cambuur, despite Ruud Gullit’s son Maxim being on their books.

To add to the tenuous connection between the two clubs is the FA Cup draw which pits Fulham and City against each other on February 5th. How many previews will we see begin with the words “two free-scoring teams”?

Home fans relishing a continuation of the second half at Reading where they scored five goals, were greeted with a dose of reality. A power cut delayed kick-off for 15 minutes and when the game started, it was City who started better.

Antoine Semenyo, the Chelsea born Ghanaian, opened the scoring with the game’s best goal in the seventh minute, adding the game’s second-best goal after an Aleksander Mitrovic header had pulled Fulham level.

The home side then hit top gear, scoring four goals in a mere 15 minutes before referee Tim Robinson provided a temporary halt to the carnage. By then, Mitrovic had completed a first-half hat trick, with Neeskens Kebano and Fabio Carvalho also adding to the tally.

12 minutes after the interval, Kebano turned on a sixpence inside the City box to make it 6-2. Everyone was expecting Fulham to score a seventh to match their Reading tally but it was not to be. Another game was round the corner.

Birmingham City visit on Tuesday night. They needed a late Scott Hogan equaliser to draw 1-1 at Preston and remain 18th in a disappointing season.

Fulham regained top slot after watching Bournemouth lose 3-2 at Luton in an early game.

Cottagers coach Marco Silva said:

“My players know they will not score always six or seven goals. If someone expects this type of score it will be a big mistake. Of course no one inside this football club is thinking this way.”

Just outside however, many of the 17,810 were already counting the hours till Tuesday. WHo knows what Birmingham City fans will be counting on the way up the M1?