Man City vs. Fulham
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Kick off: 3PM
Champions Manchester City will resume the defence of their Premier League crown this afternoon when they host newly-promoted Fulham at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola’s side picked up 10 points from the first 12 on offer before the international break, and take on a team that has shown plenty of attacking intent on their return to the top flight.
The nature of their record-breaking success in 2017-18 means that Manchester City will go into almost every league game this season as favourites to win, but there is cause for caution ahead of Fulham’s visit today.
City’s only dropped points from the opening four games of the campaign came against a free-spending promoted side who are not afraid to attack, and the Cottagers will be hopeful of producing a similarly spirited display to the one which earned Wolverhampton Wanderers a draw at Molineux last month.
That result is enough to leave last season’s runaway title winners in the unfamiliar position of fourth in the Premier League table, although it is worth noting that they also had 10 points at this stage last term – when they went on to accrue an unprecedented haul of 100.
City have now lost just one of their last 33 Premier League home games – including 18 wins in their last 20, during which time they have scored a whopping 68 goals and conceded just 15.
There is no doubt that Guardiola’s side remain the team to beat in the top flight – despite the perfect starts of Liverpool, Chelsea and Watford – and with Fulham, Cardiff City and Brighton & Hove Albion in their next three league games, there is a chance for them to regain the momentum that was lost during the draw with Wolves.
From the moment Tom Cairney slotted home the playoff final winner, Fulham have looked well prepared to succeed back at the top level, and so far there have been few signs to the contrary, despite starting with successive defeats.
A point-per-game ratio would leave Fulham battling against relegation should it extend throughout the entire season, but on paper this looks like a squad capable of setting themselves loftier ambitions and, if they are to achieve those, then they cannot afford to make a habit out of blowing two-goal leads.
That is exactly what they did against Brighton & Hove Albion last time out, missing a golden chance to record back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since April 2014 following their entertaining 4-2 triumph over Burnley the previous week.
Man City possible XI: Ederson, Stones, Kompany, Laporte, Fernandinho, Walker, Gundogan, Silva, Mendy, Aguero, Jesus.
Fulham possible XI: Bettinelli, Fosu-Mensah, Odoi, Mawson, Le Marchand, Zambo Anguissa, McDonald, Seri, Schurrle, Mitrovic, Vietto.
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