By Lori Ewing
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Mateo Kovacic scored either side of halftime to fire Manchester City to an entertaining 3-2 victory over Fulham at a sun-drenched Etihad Stadium on Saturday, as the hosts kept their grip on second place in the Premier League standings.
Pep Guardiola’s men have 17 points after seven games, a point behind leaders Liverpool, while Marco Silva’s Fulham are sixth with 11 points.
While City dominated possession early on, Fulham grew into the game and were first on the scoresheet when Andreas Pereira stabbed it home in the 26th minute after a crafty back heel from Mexican Raul Jimenez.
City equalised six minutes later when Fulham struggled to clear a corner and the ball fell to Kovacic, who took one touch before firing it in. The midfielder grabbed his second in the 47th minute when he latched onto a pass from Jack Grealish and rifled home another terrific finish from the edge of the area.
Jeremy Doku gave City a two-goal lead in the 82nd minute with a rocket into the top corner for the Belgian’s first goal of the season. Rodrigo Muniz pulled one back for the visitors in the 88th minute but City held on to win.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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