By Lori Ewing

MANCHESTER, England, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Mateo Kovacic scored goals at both halftime breaks to give Manchester City an entertaining 3-2 win over Fulham at the sun-drenched Etihad Stadium on Saturday as the hosts kept their grip on second place in the Premier -League standings.

Pep Guardiola's men have 17 points after seven games, one point behind leaders Liverpool, while Marco Silva's Fulham are sixth on 11 points.

While City dominated possession early on, Fulham grew into the game and were first on the scoresheet when Andreas Pereira fired the ball into the goal in the 26th minute after a clever back-heel shot from Mexican Raul Jimenez.

City equalized six minutes later when Fulham struggled to clear a corner and the ball fell to Kovacic, who took a touch before firing it into the goal.

“We always say that there are no easy games,” said Kovacic. “We dominated at the beginning and didn’t score a goal, conceded the goal and then came back quickly.”

“In the end we won and it was a tough game against an opponent in good form. So it’s good for us to keep winning.”

Thousands of fans had not yet returned to their seats after half-time when the midfielder scored his second – and third league goal of the season – in the 47th minute, picking up a pass from Jack Grealish and another fine finish from the edge scored the area.

Jeremy Doku gave City a two-goal lead in the 82nd minute with a shot into the top corner, marking the Belgian's first goal of the season.

Rodrigo Muniz equalized for the visitors in the 88th minute with a shot from 15 yards out that deflected off John Stones and fired into the net. However, City were able to hold on to victory against a Fulham side who will be disappointed to leave the game without a point.

City had 20 shots compared to Fulham's 11, but Adama Traore wasted a couple of great chances as he twice found himself directly confronted by Ederson and then shot straight at the goalkeeper.

It was a quiet afternoon for the league's top scorer, Erling Haaland, whose best chance was a shot early in the game that Bernd Leno deflected to the right. Ilkay Gündogan shot a long shot just wide of the goal in the first half.

City fans unfurled a banner before kick-off with words in Guardiola's native language, Catalan, calling on him to stay on as coach. The coach's contract expires at the end of the season and he gave no details on his future on Friday – other than to say fans should send him an invoice for the banner. (Reporting by Lori Ewing, Editing by Christian Radnedge)