What Pep Guardiola reminded players at half-time to spark Man City goal two minutes later

Pep Guardiola told his Manchester City players to anticipate the loose ball in the box against Fulham - before watching Mateo Kovacic score twice from that exact scenario.

City fell behind to Fulham when Andreas Pereira stabbed in from Raul Jimenez's brilliant backheel, before Kovacic was free on the edge of the area from a corner to score through a crowd of players.

It was a disjointed first half, and Guardiola kept his players in the dressing room and tunnel until the last moments before the restart, with City soon celebrating when Kovacic collected Bernardo Silva's lay-off in a similar area to score his second. It was his third of the season after scoring just one each in his last two campaigns.

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And Kovacic revealed after the game that Guardiola had identified that exact kind of opportunity as a source of goals against a brave Fulham side.

"The manager told us that we should be in and around the box because the ball always arrives there," he said. "I was luckily there and Bernardo gave me a good ball, it was good control and a good shot.

"It is always important to get the win, it doesn't matter who scores, the most important thing is getting three points. And now we hope to continue like this."

Guardiola expanded on Kovacic's goalscoring contribution, to add to his fierce strike on the opening day at Chelsea. "I'm very happy he scored two goals, he's not a guy to score those goals," the boss said.

"We started really well with two chances in two minutes and they switched immediately to five at the back. When they do that, we have one man free on the 18-yard box and that is Kovacic. The two goals were because they couldn't defend that. We have to exploit that more against teams that don't play five at the back.

"Now opponents know that they can't leave him alone, otherwise he will score a goal."

Kovacic, who dedicated his goals to his unborn baby, offered an insight into City's search for a system without Rodri - in which he has emerged a new regular in defensive midfield.

"I am playing there in the middle at the moment and of course we need to cover for Rodri, we miss him a lot," the Croatian said. "I think any team would miss him, the player that he is, and we wish him a speedy recovery and hope he comes back in a good a shape as possible."