Manchester City defeated Marco Silva’s Fulham by a score of 5-1 at the weekend – but former Premier League referee Howard Webb believes one of the Sky Blues’ goals should not have counted [via BBC Sport].

Namely, he believes that City’s second goal, scored by Nathan Ake to put them 2-1 up on the day, should have been disallowed by referee Michael Oliver.

The goal came as a result of a corner, which was expertly whipped in by Phil Foden. It was met by the head of Ake, who guided the ball into the net.

However, Manuel Akanji was in the path of the ball when Ake headed it – he was also in an offside position during this time. Although the ball did not touch him, an argument could be made that he was obscuring goalkeeper Bernd Leno’s view – therefore, he was interfering with play from an offside position.

What did Howard Webb say regarding the decision?

Speaking to BBC Sport on the decision, Webb said: “These are not always easy to call because you’re trying to get two pieces of information together – is the player offside, and then the consequence of being in that position.

“From the outset I think this should have been disallowed. It certainly appears Akanji has an impact on Leno the goalkeeper who seems to hesitate. We think it’s a clear situation of offside, unfortunately it wasn’t identified on the day. This was an error.”

Would the offside have made a difference in the game between Manchester City and Fulham?

It seems quite unlikely, given that the Citizens defeated the Cottagers by a wide scoreline of 5-1 after 90 minutes – but it should be mentioned that Ake’s goal came during a crucial moment of the encounter.

Had this goal been disallowed, as it rightly should have, it would have allowed Fulham to re-enter the game after halftime with the scores still being level at 1-1.

It could have given them confidence to push on and grab a result against City – but given the final score, it seems beyond the realms of imagination that the end result would have been any different.