Following a thrilling Kevin De Bruyne free kick that gave Man City a narrow 1-0 victory away at Leicester City the previous weekend, Man City finished their Champions League group stage campaign with a 3-1 victory against Sevilla at home on Wednesday.
Rafa Mir gave the visitors the lead before halftime in what was a dead rubber match for the Citizens, who had already advanced to the round of 16 as Group A champions.
However, Rico Lewis, 17, tied the score on his full Champions League debut, breaking the previous mark, before Julian Alvarez and Riyad Mahrez completed the comeback to keep the Sky Blues unbeaten in this season’s competition.
Indeed, City’s win over Sevilla is the first of four successive matches at the Etihad before the World Cup break, with Saturday’s clash against Fulham followed by next Wednesday’s EFL Cup third-round tie with Chelsea and a Premier League encounter against Brentford.
With the exception of one game, Guardiola’s team has amassed a remarkable 14-game winning streak at home in all competitions. They have also gone unbeaten in their last 18 games at the Etihad Stadium since suffering a 3-2 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in February.
City has already defeated Bournemouth 4-0 and Nottingham Forest 6-0 at home this season, scoring 10 goals in those victories, and they will be confident of more success against Fulham this weekend.
The Citizens have defeated the Cottagers in each of their last 12 meetings across all competitions, and a victory this weekend would temporarily catapult Guardiola’s team to the top of the Premier League before league leaders Arsenal visit Chelsea on Sunday.
Last weekend, Fulham was unable to win their third straight Premier League game as they were forced to play Everton to a scoreless draw at home.
Only six of the Cottagers’ 24 shots were on goal, and head coach Marco Silva was left regretting a number of missed chances to defeat a tenacious Toffees team who had an inspired Jordan Pickford in goal to thank.
Nevertheless, Fulham supporters will be happy to see their team in seventh place in the Premier League standings, eight points above the relegation zone and ahead of teams like Liverpool, West Ham United, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Leicester City, who all finished the previous season in the top half. Fulham won the Championship last season.
In addition, three of Fulham’s four Premier League victories against Man City have come at the Etihad – most recently a 3-1 win in April 2009 – which bodes well for Silva and co heading into Saturday’s contest.
Betting odds
Man City are hot favourites to win this contest that should come off as no surprise. Their odds of winning this one are at 1.16.
The chances of a draw are far fetched at 10.0 and the chances of a Fulham win are even more far fetched at 23.0. it will only take a miracle for the London side to get anything from the Etihad.
Teams visiting the Etihad Stadium have found it difficult to keep Man City quiet in front of goal so far this season, and even if Haaland is not fit to feature, the Citizens still possess an attacking threat capable of easily breaching Fulham’s backline.
