Manchester City vs Fulham

Manchester City’s Premier League title defense continues at the Etihad Stadium as they entertain Fulham.

A frustrating penalty shoot-out loss to Arsenal in a curtain-raising Community Shield fixture has left no scars on perennial Premier League champions Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s bid to become the first manager in the competition’s history to win four consecutive titles is going according to plan, with the ‘Citizens’ emerging victorious in all three league games this term, including a nail-biting 2-1 triumph at newly-promoted Sheffield United last weekend. But without Kevin De Bruyne, the reigning holders have lacked conviction, with both their top-flight wins since he suffered a hamstring injury coming by a single-goal margin. Interestingly, despite winning 11 successive Premier League games at the Etihad in 2023, their last three victories have yielded a one-goal margin, suggesting they may have to grind for another three points here.

On the other hand, Aleksandar Mitrovic’s last game for Fulham before ending his long-term association with the club to join Al-Hilal produced a 1-0 win at Everton on the opening weekend. Since then, Marco Silva’s men have gone winless in back-to-back league outings (D1, L1), but despite being reduced to ten men, they held runners-up Arsenal to a dramatic 2-2 draw last weekend. A morale-boosting result in North London marked Fulham’s first stalemate in ten Premier League away fixtures (W5, L4). Upsetting the apple cart for the second round running looks like a tall order for the ‘Cottagers,’ especially considering they’ve lost nine consecutive visits to Man City in all competitions since a 1-1 draw in 2011. If it’s any consolation, they’ve at least scored in their last two competitive outings at the Etihad.