Erling Haaland scores 95th minute winner in first game back from injury, he is inevitable

Manchester City have gone to the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 victory over Fulham, with Erling Haaland's 95th minute penalty making the difference.

City took the lead in the first half through Julian Alvarez's third Premier League goal. Just before the half-hour mark, City's task for the afternoon got harder following Joao Cancelo's red card.

The full-back hauled down Harry Wilson inside the penalty area, giving referee Darren England no choice but to send him off.

Former Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira stepped up to fire his spot kick past Ederson.

City were forced to turn to their bench in the second half. On it was Haaland, who didn't feature in City's last two games due to a foot injury.

The 22-year-old thought he'd given City the lead shortly after coming on through a header. VAR ruled it out for offside, however.

He got another chance to win all three points for Pep Guardiola's side late on. Kevin De Bruyne was fouled in the area, which gave Haaland a chance from 12 yards.

Haaland smashed his effort past Bernd Leno before whipping his shirt off in celebration.

GOAL Man City 2-1 Fulham (90+5 mins)

Erling Haaland scores from the spot after Kevin De Bruyne was fouled in the area! Late, late drama!#MCIFUL

pic.twitter.com/ZyjJ611Mkd

— DEAN FOOTBALL⚽ (@DEANFOOTBALL1) November 5, 2022

The Norway international has now scored 18 Premier League goals this term, as many as last season's third-top goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo. Truly frightening stuff.

Earlier this week, Zlatan Ibrahimovic claimed the forward's development could be hampered by Guardiola.

Ibrahimovic worked with the Spaniard at Barcelona and it's fair to say they never really got on.

"I like him a lot, he is a very intelligent player, he doesn't do things that are not within his reach. He does not go down to play the ball, he waits in front of the goal and scores," Ibrahimovic said of Haaland.

"He reminds me of former players like (Filippo) Inzaghi, (David) Trezeguet and (Christian) Vieri. In fact, it's a new version of all three."

"Is Guardiola able to improve him? That depends on the ego that Guardiola has," the Swede added. "If he allows himself to be bigger than Haaland or not. He didn't allow me or the others to be as big."

Guardiola was made aware of these comments ahead of their clash with Fulham. He took it quite well.

"He is right, he is completely right," Guardiola joked. "In this club, in this team, my ego is beyond every other person, every player. I don’t like it when Erling scores three goals and all the highlights are for him. I'm so jealous! Honestly, I'm so jealous!

"I said 'Erling, please no more goals, otherwise the newspapers won’t talk about me, and just about me. He's right, he [Ibrahimovic] knows me perfectly. Maybe he can write another book."