Manchester City vs Fulham preview: De Bruyne and Ake miss out again

By Ric Turner, Fri 04 October 2024 17:28


Manchester City vs Fulham preview: De Bruyne and Ake miss out againDuo remain sidelined along with Oscar Bobb and Rodri

Manchester City vs Fulham

Competition: F.A. Premier League

Date: 3.00pm, Saturday 5th October 2024

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Referee: Peter Bankes Assistants: E Smart, N Greenhalgh Fourth Official: O Langford VAR: G Scott

Odds: City 2/9, Draw 11/2, Fulham 11/1

Tickets: Sold out

TV: Match of the Day

Manchester City

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Squad (from): Ederson, Ortega, Carson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Gvardiol, Akanji, Lewis, Kovacic, Grealish, Gundogan, Silva, Nunes, Foden, McAtee, Haaland, Doku, Savinho

Injured: Rodri, Bobb, Ake, De Bruyne

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Form guide: WDWDD

Fulham

Manager: Marco Silva

Squad (from): Leno, Benda, Borto, Tete, Bassey, Andersen, Castagne, Diop, Robinson, Reed, Wilson, Cairney, Berge, Pereira, Lukic, King, Sessegnon, Smith-Rowe, Jimenez, Muniz, Traore, Iwobi, Nelson, Godo

Injured: Cuenca, Vinicius

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Form guide: WWDDD

Erling Haaland is available for the visit of Fulham, despite being substituted in the midweek win against Slovan Bratislava. Kevin De Bruyne, Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and Rodri remain sidelined through injury.

“Erling is fine,” Pep Guardiola said at Friday's press conference.

“Everyone else except Nathan, Kevin, Rodri and Oscar. The rest are OK.”

The Blues have won their last 16 games against Fulham, but Guardiola is not underestimating tomorrow's opponents.

“Marco Silva has already spent a few years there in London and they bought interesting players there, especially [Joachim] Andersen and other experienced guys. 

“It’s always a team that creates a lot of problems. They have a lot of weapons, speed - [Alex] Iwobi, the form he is playing, the speed from Adama Traore always creates a problem, the structure defensively, that is my only concern.

“What they do, not what happened in the past.”

City won their last home game against Fulham, with goals from Julian Alvarez, Nathan Ake, and an Erling Haaland hat-trick. Overall City have won 41 of the 74 games played against the Cottagers, with 16 draw and 17 defeats.

Predicted line-up: Ederson, Lewis, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Gundogan, Bernardo, Grealish, Savinho, Haaland

Score prediction: City 2 Fulham 1