Pep Guardiola Addresses Sergio Aguero's Early Withdrawal Following Man City's 2-0 Win Over Fulham

Manchester City climbed back to the top of the league with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon. It was a subdued

Manchester City climbed back to the top of the league with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon. It was a subdued performance from City but manager Pep Guardiola chalked it up to some hangover fatigue from the international break and insists the Citizens will regain their rhythm. 

The visitors dominated possession and produced 24 shots on the opposition goal but it took two calamitous errors from the home side to hand City the victory. First, it was Timothy Fosu-Mensah's wayward pass that freed Bernando Silva for the first goal after five minutes.

Bernardooooo, Silva!
Running down the wing... 🔥

🔵 @Sure #FULMCI 🔵 #mancity pic.twitter.com/joXFLBvV6J

— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 30, 2019

Then Joe Bryan managed to produce an even worse back pass 20 minutes later with the Portuguese forward profiting again but this time setting it on for Sergio Aguero to wrap up the points. City weren't really troubled by Fulham who failed to register a shot on target but some fans still felt the need to grumble at an unconvincing display.

"Some players were tired but they will come back up to their rhythm. Playing away after the break is always difficult, the players reacted very well," Guardiola told the Guardian. “Our first 15-20 minutes was one of our best of the season. We started after the international break with incredible spirit.

"Fulham has quality players but we controlled them. An incredible result for us. Enjoy the moment and dream to win another game. Against Cardiff, we will be with our people, and good memories of Bernard [Silva].”

Manchester City also faced a potentially significant setback in their pursuit of the Premier League crown as top scorer Aguero was withdrawn through injury midway through the second half. Guardiola offered an update on the striker's injury to the Manchester Evening News adding:

ADRIAN DENNIS/GettyImages

“Tomorrow we have the real assessment, he says he felt something but not injured. For precaution he decided not to continue, hopefully, it’s nothing serious.”