Super Eagles stars Alex Iwobi, Samuel Chukwueze and Calvin Bassey all started for Fulham on Wednesday night as they lost 3-0 to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
City took Fulham apart in the first half to close the gap on English Premier League leaders Arsenal to just three points, ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Brentford on Thursday night.
Arsenal are looking over their shoulders after Pep Guardiola’s side backed up Sunday’s last-gasp comeback 2-1 win at Liverpool by sealing a comfortable three points at Etihad Stadium.
Three goals in the space of 15 first-half minutes inflicted the damage against the Cottagers, who have now suffered three consecutive defeats.
The quickfire sequence of goals began when visiting midfielder Sander Berge miscued a clearing header into the path of Antoine Semenyo who poked home from close range for his fifth goal in eight game since signing for City in January.
The Ghanaian then turned provider just six minutes later, sliding a pass onto the run of Nico O’Reilly to double the lead with a deft finish over the advancing Bernd Leno.
And City sealed the points before half-time as Phil Foden found the run of Erling Haaland, who drilled home an unerring finish low into the bottom corner.
Marco Silva’s side will be ruing a missed opportunity by midfielder Harry Wilson, whose low strike at 1-0 down was batted away by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
In the late kick-off, Liverpool put in an impressive away performance to become the first team to win at Sunderland in the Premier League this season.
Virgil van Dijk’s second-half header secured a 1-0 win and all three points for the visitors, who dominated large parts of the match at the Stadium of Light.
The Liverpool captain nodded on a corner from Mohamed Salah just after the hour mark – and Sunderland’s Habib Diarra, who was on the goalline, could only help the ball into the back of the net.
Liverpool were impressive in the first half and dominated the ball – with Arne Slot’s side having 68% of the possession.
Having initially struggled to find a way through Sunderland’s solid defence, it was Florian Wirtz who came closest to breaking the deadlock.
On the half-hour mark, the German’s right-footed strike from outside the box was well saved by Robin Roefs who parried it out for a corner.
Minutes later, Wirtz struck the post with a left-footed effort from inside the area before having a header saved by Roefs.
Liverpool cranked up the pressure although Sunderland did well to ensure the match was still goalless at half-time. Regis Le Bris’ side only had five touches in the visitors’ box during in the first half.
The hosts improved after the break, with skipper Trai Hume firing over, but it was the visitors who took a deserved lead when Van Dijk scored his fourth goal of the season.
Liverpool held on for an important win, but their evening was slightly marred by a worrying injury to Wataru Endo, who was filling in at right-back because of Dominik Szoboszlai’s suspension.
The Japan international made his first league start of the season and was defensively solid, winning the most duels (seven) of any player in the match before he fell awkwardly on his ankle shortly after Liverpool took the lead.
Endo was carried off on a stretcher and replaced by Joe Gomez – who has only just returned from injury.
Victory for Liverpool – only their second in the league in 2026 – helped them cut the gap to fifth-placed Chelsea to two points, while Sunderland are 11th.
In other Premier League fixtures tonight, Super Eagles attacking midfielder Christantus Uche was a late substitute as Crystal Palace gave up a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at home to Burnley, Aston Villa edged past Brighton 1-0, and Tolu Arokodare started for Wolves as they held Ola Aina’s Nottingham Forest to a 0-0 draw.
RESULTS
Aston Villa 1-0 Brighton
Manchester City 3-0 Fulham
Nottingham 0-0 Wolves
Sunderland 0-1 Liverpool
Crystal Palace 2-3 Burnley
