Beauty of Manchester City shines through as clock ticks down to treble

Erling Haaland celebrates the final whistle and a hard-fought win at Fulham. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Tick. Tick. Tick. At the end of this breezy, fun, quietly feisty 2-1 defeat of Fulham, there was even a sense of super-smart design in Pep Guardiola’s onfield displays of affection.

There was a double-hug for John Stones: both hands around the torso plus a final flurry of buttock pats for the key defensive peg on the current eight-match winning league run. Guardiola hugged Jack Grealish, just because he loves hugging Jack Grealish.