Manchester City have leapfrogged Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Strikes from Erling Braut Haaland and Julian Alvarez either side of a Carlos Vinicius response sent the champions back to the summit for the first time since February, although Marco Silva's side handed their visitors a couple of scares along the way.
A few Fulham and Arsenal fans may have been hit with a wave of optimism when it emerged that Kevin De Bruyne would miss the contest through injury, but his replacement Alvarez quickly shot down such fanciful hopes.
Within the first 90 seconds, Riyad Mahrez knocked the ball down for Alvarez inside the area, and Tim Ream caught the Argentine with a flailing leg to concede an early penalty.
Up stepped Haaland, and despite Bernd Leno guessing the right way, the City striker picked out the corner for his 50th goal of the season and a historic 34th in the Premier League.
© Reuters
In the process, Haaland equalled Andy Cole and Alan Shearer's single-season records in the English top flight, but the champions failed to make their early dominance count and were swiftly pegged back.
The rejuvenated Harry Wilson made a darting run in between City's two centre-backs in the 15th minute to receive Andreas Pereira's long pass, and the Welshman's knockdown landed at the feet of Vinicius to power home a half-volley, levelling the scores very much against the run of play.
Celebration soon turned to concern for the hosts, though, as Ream was brought off with his arm in a makeshift sling in the 21st minute - Issa Diop came on for the stricken captain to defend against the City onslaught.
The visitors looked to switch the play to Jack Grealish at every opportunity, and the in-form Englishman was inches away from restoring City's lead in the 27th minute, but Leno tipped his goalbound effort onto the bar before Alvarez sent the follow-up wide.
However, the Argentine redeemed himself and then some in the 36th minute. Faced by a wall of white shirts 20 yards from goal, Alvarez unleashed a rocket across the outstretched arm of Leno and into the top corner to propel Pep Guardiola's men back into the ascendancy.
© Reuters
Following a couple of Leno saves from Haaland and Alvarez early in the second half, a lengthy delay ensued after a collision between Pereira and Manuel Akanji - the former came off far worse and had to be stretchered off with his leg encased in protective padding in the 59th minute.
While most of the action remained in Fulham's half, the Cottagers kept the champions at bay and were denied two penalty appeals, firstly for Ederson scrambling to hook the ball away from Vinicius before Bobby Decordova-Reid went to ground under pressure from Kyle Walker.
As the Craven Cottage crowd became more animated, tempers began to flare, most notably between Grealish and Kenny Tete, who engaged in a brief set-to and were pulled apart by their teammates before each collecting a booking.
Silva's team began to ask a few more questions of the Citizens' defence, but Guardiola's side had all the answers and survived eight minutes of added time to take their rightful position at the top of the pile.
The Citizens hold a one-point lead over Arsenal with a game in hand ahead of Wednesday's visit of West Ham United, while Fulham remain 10th and also have just two full days to recover before a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool in midweek.
Ben Knapton
