Antoine Semenyo gave City the lead in the 24th minute by pouncing on a loose ball from close range, scoring his fifth goal for the club since his £64m switch from Bournemouth. City then doubled their lead on the half-hour mark with a sublime goal from Nico O'Reilly, who exchanged passes with Semenyo to slice through the visitors defence before finishing confidently past Bernd Leno.
City had a penalty appeal that was rejected by VAR for a tug on Marc Guehi but they scored their third goal soon enough, Haaland firing into the bottom corner from just outside the box after a lay-off from Phil Foden. It was Haaland's first goal from open play since December 20 against West Ham while Foden registered his first goal involvement in his last 14 appearances.
The three-goal lead gave Guardiola licence to take Haaland off at half-time and the coach then withdrew Foden, Rodri and Bernardo Silva. They understandably dropped their intensity but without giving Fulham any invitation to come back in the game as they did in the 5-4 thriller at Craven Cottage in December.
The result cuts Arsenal's lead at the top of the table down to three points, putting the Gunners under extra pressure a day before their visit to Brentford.
GOAL rates Man City's players from the Etihad Stadium...
