Player ratings: Manchester City v Fulham
Given – The Irish international was sharp off his line to take the ball off Kamara, then finished off with a late save from Zamora. 7
Richards – Started brightly, but then a few passes went astray. Needed to be tighter on his opponents in the second half. 6
Toure – A few uncharacteristic errors didn’t help the cause in the second half. Good to see him talking to Richards, but there’s still work to be done on the organisation of that back four. 6
Lescott – The joy of his first goal was sadly overshadowed by losing out to Dempsey for the Fulham equaliser. 6
Bridge – The week off had done him some good and this was a sharper display than against Wigan. Wayne was our only defender who looked happy to carry the ball forward. 7
De Jong – Allowed Fulham players to get goalside a couple of times, but otherwise effective. Nearly scored his first for City, but for a smart save by Schwarzer. 6
Barry – Steady with lots of tidy passes, but still appears to fade a little in the final part of games. 7
Bellamy – Maybe it was the injury, maybe it was the constant switching of flanks, but the Welshman wasn’t quite as effective as of late. He still took the game to Fulham mind. 7
Tevez – Looked sharp and dangerous, as shown by several dribbles past Fulham defenders. Disappeared in the last 20 minutes. 7
Adebayor – An improvement on the previous week, even if he wasn’t fully fit. The Togolese is having to get used to a few more punted high balls than he was used to at Arsenal. 6
Petrov – Another start meant another goal from the Bulgarian. At last there was some consistency from his corners in the first half. 7
Subs:
Wright-Phillips – Being ‘rotated’ seemed to do Shaun good and he looked brighter than we’ve seen for a while. 7
Ireland – Brought on to try and inspire us to regain the lead. His subsequent inability to get into the game was all the more disappointing. 5
Kompany – Came on to late to give a mark. Could now be due a longer run-out, possibly in defence.
Man of the match: In truth no-one stood out, so for a nicely taken goal and the fact we were still winning when he went off, it goes to Martin Petrov.