Manchester City are now the only team in the Premier League to have not lost a game this season.
With eight matches played, City have won six and drawn two, bagging 19 goals and conceding nine along the way.
One of those victories saw Pep Guardiola’s side pick up a 3-2 win against Fulham at the Etihad Stadium just before the October international break.
This match ended up producing a lot of talking points, one of which ended up being how Kyle Walker was outpaced by Adama Traore in the second half.
Even though some weeks have passed since this unusual event, the City captain has opened up about the incident.
Kyle Walker admits defeat in Adama Traore race in Man City vs Fulham
In a recent video shared on the BBC Radio 5 Live Sport X account, Walker shared this admission about how he was outpaced by Traore during City’s win over Fulham.
He said: “I just base myself on that I’m quick, I thought that I had him, it’s not an excuse, he beat me fair and square, but I’m going to remember it.
“My arm should have come across but, you know, when I start running backwards [towards goal], nine times out of 10 people just stop, but he obviously backs himself so much, just like I do, he’s thought, “I can actually catch this”.
“And next minute he’s actually in front of me and I’ve tried to give him the arm to try to claw a little bit back, he’s that strong. From what I’ve seen he could be up there with me.
“It’s not bad in 18 years, first time someone can actually say, probably [Ousmane] Dembele, I used to get that clip all the time when I’ve sprinted to him when we played France away.
“I sprinted to him and he’s actually already running the other way and everybody’s clipping it, “oh my gosh, Kyle Walker just got smoked”.
“But that’s not a bad reaction for them to be that surprised, I’m obviously doing something right.”
What was said about Walker being outpaced by Traore at the time?
The 34-year-old only came on as a substitute in the 62nd minute when he replaced Manuel Akanji, whereas Traore had been on the pitch since the start.
In fact, the Fulham winger ended up missing three big chances throughout the match, one of which came when he ran past Walker to put himself in a one-on-one situation with Ederson.
Following this game, Chris Sutton said that Walker was “exposed” by Traore with his pace and strength.
In addition to that, Ben Foster gave this assessment of Walker being outpaced by Traore.
He said: “It’s the power, it’s just pure power, it’s ridiculous, isn’t it?
“You know though for a fact as well that if them two are running against each other and the second they start to make a little bit of contact with each other as well, Traore is just brushing him off, he’s knocking him off balance, he’s setting him back there, he’s sending him back a few paces, I guarantee.
“He’s just so big and strong running, it’s lovely to see.”
With the Englishman being honest about how he was unable to keep pace with Traore or get the better of him physically, this shows that he doesn’t have an ego and is fine with admitting when an opponent has bested him.
