Erling Haaland scores 100th Premier League goal as Man City holds on to beat Fulham 5-4

By Canadian Press on December 2, 2025.

Erling Haaland scored his 100th Premier League goal on Tuesday and Manchester City moved to within two points of the top of the standings.

Haaland opened the scoring in City’s thrilling 5-4 win at Fulham, which saw Pep Guardiola’s team survive a dramatic fightback at Craven Cottage.

City led 5-1 less than an hour into the game, but Fulham rallied and nearly grabbed an equalizer in stoppage time when Josh King’s effort was cleared off the line by Josko Gvardiol.

Haaland celebrated afterward in front of the traveling fans after becoming the fastest player to reach a century of goals in the Premier League.

His goal in the 17th minute — lashed in from close range — was his 100th in 111 games. England icon Alan Shearer had held the record after reaching that benchmark in 124 games.

Most importantly for City was a victory that closed the gap on first-place Arsenal, which hosts Brentford on Wednesday.

City led 3-1 at halftime, with Tijani Reijnders and Phil Foden adding to Haaland’s goal, while Emile Smith-Rowe pulled one back before the break.

Foden got his second early in the second half and a Sander Berge own goal seemingly put City in total control.

That was until Fulham mounted a fightback.

Alex Iwobi got Fulham’s second with a low curling effort from outside of the box. Samuel Chukwueze then scored two in the space of six minutes to set up tense finale.

On-loan City winger Jack Grealish scored the only goal of the game as Everton beat Bournemouth 1-0.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

James Robson, The Associated Press