Fulham have to settle for 11th as Manchester City secure Champions League spot

Once more, with feeling : Picture by @YTJourno

Fulham (0) 0

Manchester City (1) 2 Gundogan 21, Haaland pen 72

In the end, it all felt a little flat. Fulham's season has carried many good moments and even hints of European qualification - but defeat here means they finish 11th - sandwiched between Brentford and Palace.

It has been a fine effort from Marco Silva's men to improve on the previous best showing in the Prem when Roy Hodgson and Danny Murphy were leading a charge to seventh place in 2009. They actually accumulated one more point that that team with 54, but it feels a little anti-climactic.

Uncertainty there may be about Pep Guardiola's team these days but they haven't tended to find visits to Craven Cottage too daunting in recent times. They arrived having won on their last six trips to Fulham and always looked likely to make it seven in a row after making a strong start.

They hadn't lost in 12 here since a Steed Malbranque double got the better of them in 2005, which is the Whites' only home win against City this century.

Man City made the sort of start that characterised the early passages at Wembley last week, but this time, there was an end product as Ilkay Gundogan gave them the lead with a spectacular overhead kick.

Omar Marmoush played a marauding Matheus Nunes in behind the Whites' defence and although Bernd Leno got a hand to the defender's shot, the ball ballooned up for Gundogan to put away acrobatically.

The Whites responded, with Harry Wilson drilling low at Ederson and Adama Traore having his follow-up blocked, but City looked in the mood to nail down the Champions League spot that is the bare minimum for them in an all-too rare trophyless season.

Antonee Robinson did well to get in the way of a Marmoush effort. Jermey Doku wasn't far off target after bearing in from the left to curl a shot towards Leno's left hand post as the sky blue shirts threatened more goals.

There would have been no more popular scorer than Tom Cairney, who was making a rare start and could conceivably be departing in the summer.

He had two bites at the cherry in an attack forged by Traore down the right - the initial blast into a thicket of players, the second a more subtle chip which drifted just wide.

But this was not going to be the great sign-off he might have hoped for - assuming it is to be the end - though he received a heart-felt ovation when he was subbed off late on.

More chances came. Doku's blistering pace down the left ended with a square ball that Marmoush should have done better with - sending his shot straight into Robinson. Nico Gonzalez's follow-up was comfortable for Leno.

But in a game that felt open at both ends, Wilson almost slotted past Ederson after being set up by Cairney in a rapid counter-attack, with Andreas Pereira putting the rebound from a tight angle into the side netting.

Fulham almost drew level at the start of the season half when Wilson got in behind the City defence, but the final effort from the well-placed Pereira was weak and off target.

Soon, City would be out of sight.

City famously missed a penalty in last week's FA Cup final, with Erling Haaland passing up the opportunity to score against Crystal Palace. This time, he took the responsibility after Gundogan had been upended by a clumsy Sasa Lukic challenge. He tucked home to Leno's right - the keeper guessing the wrong way.

Marco Silva threw on Alex Iwobi, Josh King and Ryan Sessegnon in a bid to claw back the disadvantage, though the withdrawal of Brentford hero Wilson took some of the hope out of the final acts - even if Sessengon did tee up Raul Jimenez for an off-target glancing header after a fine burst down the right.,

There were late chances to grab a consolation through first Sander Berge, then Jimenez, but today it was not quite meant to be.

Whites: (4-2-3-1) Leno - Tete, Andersen, Cuenca, Robinson - Cairney King (74), Lukic (Berge 85) - Traore (Sessegnon 74), Pereira (Smith Rowe 61), Wilson (Iwobi 61) - Jimenez

City: (4-2-3-1) Ederson - Nunes, Ruben Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol - Gonzalez, Gundogan (De Bruyne 85) - Bernardo Silva, Marmoush (Foden 82), Doku (Savinho 74) - Haaland (Echeverri 85)

Attendance: 27 671