(Football news) The two teams meet for the first time in nearly five months when the Citizens cruised to a 4-0 victory at Craven Cottage towards the end of last season.
After being held to their second successive Premier League draw by Newcastle United (1-1) last weekend, Manchester City bounced back with a totally dominant 4-0 win away against Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Manchester City had 28 attempts on goal, 73% possession and hit the woodwork three times in the first half of a one-sided contest, but goals from Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and James McAtee – the latter scoring his first senior goal – eventually helped the Citizens pick up their first three points in the newly-expanded Champions League.
Manager Pep Guardiola believes that his team “are improving step-by-step” in how they attack and he was particularly pleased to see his squad come away from Slovakia unscathed, while a number of players also got valuable first-team minutes under their belts.
Manchester City have one final Premier League fixture at home to Fulham before the international break and they could slip four points behind leaders Liverpool if the Reds beat Crystal Palace in the early kickoff before Guardiola’s men take on the Cottagers.
The reigning champions will fancy their chances of success on Saturday, as they have won each of their last 16 meetings with Fulham across all competitions – the longest winning run one team has had over another in English football league history. Should Manchester City merely avoid defeat, they would extend their remarkable unbeaten home record to 50 games.
Fulham have made their best start to a Premier League season since 2003, accumulating 11 points from their opening six matches to help them rise to sixth in the table, just three points behind Manchester City in second.
Since losing to Manchester United on the opening weekend of the new season, the Cottagers have put together a five-game unbeaten run in the top flight, winning their last two matches against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest.
Raul Jimenez scored his 50th Premier League goal and his third in as many games – netting from the penalty spot five minutes after half time – to help Fulham secure a slender 1-0 win at Forest last weekend.
However, the Mexican landed himself in hot water after he snatched the ball off teammate and designated penalty-taker Andreas Pereira, something that is “not going to happen again” under the tutelage of head coach Marco Silva, who has revealed that Jimenez has since apologised.
That incident has quickly been nipped in the bud by Fulham, who are now gearing up for a daunting trip to Manchester City this weekend. Having said that, the Cottagers have registered three of their four Premier League wins over the Citizens at the Etihad, most recently winning 3-1 in April 2009 under Roy Hodgson.
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