I spotted what Ruben Dias did for Erling Haaland - it shows Arsenal can't stop this Man City surge

That's why the call him The Sniper.

Seconds after Bernardo Silva had been sent crashing to the ground on the edge of the box, the ball was in the back of the net as Phil Foden shot first time on his weaker foot and sent the ball past Bernd Leno to double Manchester City's lead. Foden hadn't played particularly well in the opening hour and City were just beginning to wobble under Fulham pressure when suddenly it was game over.

Goal number 25 for Foden in all competitions this year and 89 for City in the league - overtaking Arsenal with just two games to go - was enough for Pep Guardiola to sleep at least one more night on top of the table. Blues will hope United can do them a favour at Old Trafford, but the reality is they don't need them to because with a week to go the title race is in their hands.

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It wasn't exactly a coliseum for City to storm, heading to glitzy West London to play a club with nothing riding on the game in front of a half-ready stand that looked more like it was hosting a school sports day than a crucial Premier League match. Paper clappers left on every seat made for a noisy occasion, although the ferocity wasn't there for the Blues to handle and once the visitors took control of the game you could almost hear the waves of the Thames.

Fulham were passed into submission rather than being passive from the start. They actually bossed the opening 10 minutes, managing more than 56 per cent possession with a prolonged period of brave play that few teams manage against City.

Ruben Dias was needed twice in the first three minutes to cut out dangerous balls into the box as the hosts appeared to be targeting City's right-side that featured Manu Akanji in that space rather than the benched Kyle Walker. Dias was only making his first start since the FA Cup semi-final at Chelsea last month, but if there were legitimate questions over how he got back into the starting XI this was an afternoon where it feels like he should never be out of it.

Having repelled the early attacks, City struck as soon as Fulham relented. The visitors were allowed a period of around two minutes on the ball working it from left to right, up and down, until Josko Gvardiol exchanged passes with Kevin De Bruyne and continued his remarkable goalscoring form by coolly slotting in another on his weaker right foot.

With four goals in his last six appearances, Gvardiol has replaced the goals that Ilkay Gundogan usually popped up with at this time of year - and he has done it from the left-back position. Teams expect threats to come from all directions in the City team but Gvardiol is up there with Joao Cancelo in his pomp and doing it as a 22-year-old in his first season in English football playing out of position.

The goal prompted a procession of passes from City, who enjoyed more than 66 per cent of possession by the end of the first half. The crowd were agitated, save for a joyful patch of Blues behind Ederson's goal going through their songbook.

And when Manu Akanji missed a sitter at the back post to double the lead and Fulham broke quickly in injury time, there was Dias again to stop the ball getting to tricky forward Rodrigo Muniz and protect the City goal.

Two half-time changes energised Fulham and City started the second half sloppily, allowing the crowd back into the game. Adama Traore has given City more than a couple of nightmares in previous seasons and his trickery helped to send Ederson scrambling to keep out a Muniz flick as the game tipped back into the balance.

Then came Foden, as City killed off the surge before it was allowed to rise. Erling Haaland missed a sitter but Josko Gvardiol produced another terrific finish to flick in Bernardo Silva's knock to the back post and it was 3-0.

"Boring, boring City," sang the away end before reminding Manchester United of the gap between the sides that now stands at a gigantic 31 points. The few thousand Blues in South London sang the game to its conclusion, with a Poznan in there for good measure and a late penalty won and slotted home by Julian Alvarez.

The win extended City's club record to 33 games unbeaten in all competitions - the fourth longest run by an English team - and inflicted a brutal 16th consecutive victory over Fulham - the first time any team has managed such domination in the history of English football.

More importantly, City are still on to become the first team in English history to win four league titles in a row, and if they do it will be down to the way that the whole team works together. Having been frustrated last week at the lack of treatment by officials when he was contesting balls in the channels, Haaland was ready to be annoyed once more but in stepped Dias to have a word with referee Anthony Taylor and highlight the problem.

Even if the officials don't play ball, those details help City to feel like they are all pulling in the same direction. When they do it as well as they have done in recent months, that direction is towards more silverware and more history regardless of anything Arsenal can do in the next week.