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Rayan Cherki only came onto the Craven Cottage pitch in the 82nd minute yet there were few players Pep Guardiola spoke more highly of afterwards. With Manchester City on the ropes as a rampant Fulham looked for an equaliser that would have completed the most unlikely of comebacks, bringing Cherki on for Reijnders could have been seen as a surprisingly attacking change.

It was of course typical of Guardiola though, who prefers to defend with his team having the ball. In an eventful 19-minute cameo, Cherki got a yellow card for attempting to boot the ball out of the stadium when Fulham won a free-kick but otherwise treated the ball like it was his personal property.

Guardiola dished out enormous praise afterwards, drawing a comparison with Thiago Alcantara as a player who

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