Pep Guardiola labels Fulham star 'unstoppable' after nervy Man City win

Pep Guardiola heaped praise on Adama Traore following Manchester City’s 3-2 win over Fulham.

Mateo Kovacic scored twice with Jeremy Doku grabbing the third to get City back to winning ways in the Premier League on Saturday, with the visitors striking through Andreas Pereira and Rodrigo Muniz.

But it could have been a different story if Traore had finished one of his many chances. The 28-year-old beat Rico Lewis for pace in the first half but fired his shot at Ederson when clean through, before hitting over minutes later.

Then in the second half, Traore beat Kyle Walker in a foot race but again couldn’t finish past Ederson when in one-on-one.

And Guardiola claimed after the game: "Adama, he's unstoppable that game. We couldn't control when he had the ball. You have to defend in your 18-yard box."

City are still coming to terms to life without Rodri after the midfielder was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

“We don't have him now this season so we have to find a solution,” Guardiola said. “We have Kova [Kovacic], [Ilkay] Gundo [Gundogan], we can put John [Stones] in that role, Rico [Lewis], Manu [Akanji], so we have to find a way.

“Of course the presence of Rodri is important in this type of game with the transitions but we played really well."

On Doku’s goal, he added: "It was really, really good. We always talk about his ability to dribble but it is then about the final pass, that last action.

“I was diagonal to him [when he hit the shot] and the ball made an incredible curve effect. Really happy for him. The last game against Bratislava he was really good and today as well.

“The two with Kovacic were good when they had five at the back because only the striker can defend him in that situation and that makes the transitions less dangerous. We used that weapon and Kova did really well.

"It was intense, it was tight, chances for them, chances for us. We started well and created many chances and it was tougher when they went to five at the back. It was a risk to manage it but in the end we did.

"It [Fulham] is a really, really good team. Marco [Silva] is a top manager who has been working there for many, many years already. They have players they bought in the summer, including the ones from Arsenal [Emile Smith-Rowe and Reiss Nelson] and they have a lot of quality.

“We have always had the ability to do it. Like Brentford, the rest of the game we were playing really well but sometimes it [a goal] happens.

"The first goal with the pass from [Raul] Jimenez was not expected by anyone so you have to give the credit to the opponent. They had more good chances too but Ederson made some incredible saves."