Manchester City vs Fulham

Etihad Stadium forms the backdrop for a ‘David vs Goliath’ Premier League showdown between Manchester City and Fulham.

Manchester City threw away a halftime lead in a gut-wrenching 1-1 draw at Newcastle United last weekend, relinquishing the leading position in the Premier League despite an unbeaten start to their title defense (W4, D2). However, only one point separates the unprecedented four-time consecutive champions from early pacesetters Liverpool at the beginning of this round. Pep Guardiola’s side responded to last week’s disappointment with a telling performance in a 4-0 romping of Slovan Bratislava in midweek Champions League action, preserving their undefeated record in all competitions this season (W7, D3). On top of that, the Citizens head into proceedings unbeaten in their last 29 league outings (W23, D6), looking to protect their home fortress that hasn’t been breached inside 90 minutes in 49 successive matches!

In the meantime, Fulham got the better of Nottingham Forest 1-0 last weekend to cap off their joint-best six-game start to a top-flight campaign (W3, D2, L1). Unfazed by a late 1-0 defeat at Manchester United on matchday one, Marco Silva’s lads have gone from strength to strength in the league to climb to sixth at the start of this round. Another win in this high-profile contest would potentially catapult them into the top four before the break, yet an 18-game winless H2H run (D3, L15) douses the optimism around the visiting camp. Perhaps encouragingly, three of Fulham’s four Premier League H2H victories have come on Man City’s home ground. The Cottagers have blown hot and cold across their three league travels this season (W1, D1, L1), with all three matches featuring under 2.5 goals, suggesting they could avoid a ‘blowout.’