Fulham vs Manchester City: Match preview, betting tips and predictions

Manchester City midfielder tries to block Ryan Bertrand's cross

Bernardo Silva slides to prevent an attempt for Ryan Bertrand in City's 5-2 win over Southampton in midweek. (Photo credit: Premierleague.com)

Fulham vs Manchester City
Craven Cottage
9:00pm

Fulham are looking like a team that won’t drop to the Championship on the account of their resolute defending, compact midfield displays and precise attack as witnessed in their recent games.

The Lilywhites were a long way off safety few weeks ago but they now sit in the drop zone only on goal difference with Brighton, although Graham Potter’s side have a game in hand, this speaks hope for a side that has been in the drop zone since day one of the current league season.

Manchester City will be champions sooner rather than later, with just ten to play, they only need six wins which you can’t put past them starting with their trip to Craven Cottage, they can see the red sky turning to blue despite the recent blip against their fiercest city rivals.

Manchester City suffered a 2-0 loss at home to Manchester United, it was against the books as the Citizens were on a rampaging run before the result but they had a quick opportunity to bounce back against Southampton and they didn’t take much chances;

They will have to assess the two goals they conceded but once again, VAR inconsistencies came to the fore, leaving Pep Guardiola giving a tongue in cheek post match speech which directly took a dig at the failing technology.

Fulham beat Liverpool last weekend at Anfield, against the books but not against form, with the hosts now losing six on the bounce on a ground that used to be a mythical fortress; that result will spur Fulham on as they host the runaway leaders on Saturday.

Barring a meltdown of epic proportions, Manchester City should be champions, it’s honestly a matter of when and not if, and that must mean 100% concentration by the hosts when the Citizens come to town for what will be the first of the six wins they need to be champions.

What does Fulham have to do to get a result? Same thing they did against Liverpool but with increased attention to margins, City won’t miss chances as much as Liverpool did and they won’t get opportunities to waste like they had against the champions.

It won’t make headlines if the visitors win here, but the Lilywhites can continue their giant killing runs with a shock result and a point would be bigger than its actual value.

One thing Fulham won’t do right now is to take a look at the history books, they haven’t even scored against City in a long while with the Citizens taking every point on offer in the last five between the two and without conceding too.