Man City 3 Fulham 2: Mateo Kovacic scores TWICE as Pep Guardiola’s men claim nervy victory over Cottagers

MATEO KOVACIC spent most of his first season at the Etihad playing second fiddle while Rodri called the tune.

When Ilkay Gundogan returned to his old stomping ground in the summer, it seemed the Croatian midfield grafter would slip another place down the pecking order.

Mateo Kovacic scored twice for Manchester City as they edged past FulhamGetty

Andreas Pereira gave Fulham a shock lead from close rangeAFP

Kovacic’s deflected strike levelled things up for the championsPA

The Croatian then helped himself to a second shortly after the breakReuters

Kovacic was instrumental in ensuring Man City won on Saturday afternoon

Fulham had a significant share of the match and could have stolen a point

But suddenly, out of nowhere, Kovacic hasn’t merely taken a seat in the Manchester City orchestra, but has the baton in his hand, conducting the whole damn show.

Where the loss of Rodri for the season, sidelined with a smashed cruciate, was initially seen as a door slamming on hopes of five titles in a row, it could actually be the opposite.

It could be the stroke of misfortune for the Spaniard, yet slice of luck for the Croat, which sees Kovacic nail down a slot as the midfield kingpin and puller of strings in this term’s assault.

As someone in these parts once memorably said across the other side of town, football, bloody hell, eh!

Kovacic’s talents have never been in doubt, of course. A four-time Champions League winner – three with Real Madrid and one against City with Chelsea – is proof enough.

Yet on the Etihad’s all-star cast of Galacticos, you’d have to look a long way down the list to find his name. Grit, not glamour or glitz, is the order of the day for him.

A great option to chuck from the bench, to give one of the front liners a bit of a breather, but to most City fans, more of a side dish than a main course kind of guy.

Put it this way, Kovacic isn’t a name on the back of too many youngsters’ shirts. Or at least he hasn’t been, until the last month or so, anyway.

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Jeremy Doku lashed in a sensational third for Man CityReuters

It was his first Premier League goal of the seasonPA

Rodrigo Muniz reduced the deficit and made for a tense climaxGetty

Midfielder Kovacic completed 77 of his 86 passes

Unlikely that may be. But then again, so was the prospect of Kovacic emerging as a two-goal transformer of a game that City were frankly stumbling through in the first half at least.

An early slash wide from Gundogan apart and an angled effort even closer from Erling Haaland aside, it was actually Fulham who had the better openings.

The best of which went to Adama Traore, when Antonee Robinson’s delicious outside-of-the-foot pass set him on a foot race with pint size Rico Lewis.

It was an unfair contest in terms of pace and poundage, but after Traore outmuscled the youngster, he could only drive against Ederson’s legs.

A fateful tale of what was to come for the Spanish flier, but more of that later, because on 27 minutes it didn’t seem to matter, as the Cottagers bagged a well earned lead.

And what a well crafted opener it was, too, with Raul Jiminez’ thigh control to take Alex Iwobi’s pass, and then his rub-your-eyes half-volleyed backheel cross.

It certainly had City’s backline baffled, dropping over Manuel Akanji and in front of Lewis as Andreas Pereira stretched out a leg to volley in. A simple finishing touch to majestic crafting.

Two minutes later and that lead should have doubled as Traore found himself staring keeper Ederson in the eyes once again.

Again Iwobi was the architect, sweeping the ball left to his unmarked team-mate. This time he went high, and a point blank strike ended with the fans behind the goal.

How fateful it proved, because with Fulham still cursing the miss, up stepped Kovacic to level it up.

Gundogan’s corner was never remotely cleared, and when it fell invitingly 12 yards out, the City midfielder pounced.

With a huge slice of fortune, too, it should be said clipping off Joachim Andersen to leave Bernd Leno totally wrongfooted.

Balance restored? Normal service resumed? Routine victory now on the cards? Well it certainly seemed to be heading that way when Kovacic pounced again two minutes into the second half.

And while his opener may have come with a hefty dose of good luck, this one was pure class. A finish that had Pep Guardiola leaping around punching the air on the touchline.

Bernardo Silva did superbly to chest down and lay off Phil Foden’s deep cross almost in the same motion.

But not half as well as Kovacic did in side footing a magnificently clinical, curling strike arcing away from Leno and into the corner.

Lewis then struck a rocket from the edge of the box which clipped a stooping Haaland and fizzed inches wide, and you thought it was a question of “how many”.

Until, as least, Traore showed substitute Kyle Walker, making his 400th appearance, that maybe he isn’t the fastest guy in the game after all.

For the Fulham winger left him for dead to storm through…and then repeated his clanger of the first half by driving at Ederson’s legs.

A miss that looked even worse when Jeremy Doku nearly took the net off its moorings with a rocket to earn breathing space

Yes, Rodrigo Muniz ensured a couple of squeaky bum moments with a last-gasp lifeline for the visitors, but by then the damage had been done. For City, the points were safe.

Rodri may be second favourite for the Ballon d’Or but for now at least Kovacic is loving life as the headline act.