The simple formula Man City need to beat Fulham as ‘almost certain’ Premier League prediction is made

Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has told Sports Mole what he believes is required from Pep Guardiola’s side if they wish to win away against Fulham in the Premier League on Tuesday night.

After suffering back-to-back defeats against Newcastle United and Bayer Leverkusen, the Citizens were given a scare by 18th-placed Leeds United and left it late to win by a 3-2 scoreline at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Man City have climbed back up to second place in the Premier League table and could reduce the gap at the summit to just two points with a win at Craven Cottage before leaders Arsenal play host to Brentford on Wednesday.

The Citizens should be confident of success on Tuesday as they have remarkably won each of their last 18 meetings against Fulham across all competitions (15 wins in the Premier League), scoring at least two goals in 17 of those.

However, while Guardiola is expecting a “difficult” game for his Man City side, McInerney believes that Fulham will “almost certainly” score in this contest - potentially through striker Raul Jimenez - and Marco Silva men must be ‘taken seriously’.

Man City warned of Fulham’s qualities after “incredibly educational” three-game run

McInerney is confident that Man City can get the job done on Tuesday, as long as they cut out the sloppy mistakes that have crept into their recent performances and extend their dominance beyond 45 minutes - something they failed to achieve against Leeds, but ultimately escaped with a last-gasp win.

“I think City probably will win this [but] we’ve had three games that have been incredibly educational and I still think there's a lot to improve. I'm not that confident given this is away,” McInerney told Sports Mole.

“Fulham are a good side. Everyone takes them seriously. Even [though] they haven't had a great start to the season, they have obvious quality, a good manager and a bunch of players that know what they're doing.

“I really like a side that has a lot of conviction in their setup and I think Fulham have a system that works. They've got quality in midfield with like of Sander Berge and [Alex] Iwobi. I really rate Iwobi, he's a really smart player.

“[Calvin] Bassey and [Joachim] Anderson is a good centre-back pairing. There's lots of Premier League experience there. They're missing one of their best players is Antonee Robinson, but they are a side that you have to take seriously.

“Raul Jimenez is a really good striker. He's not a great goalscorer, but he's a reliable player...Jimenez is that kind of guy who will score a goal against us. It just feels like he's going to score against us. They will score Fulham.

Fulham will "almost certainly" score and Man City can ill-afford to make mistakes

“But to me, it's one of those things where City will win this if they don't beat themselves. I know it's such a cliche, but if they cut out the mistakes and they find a way to turn that 45-minute performance (against Leeds) into a 70 minute performance, that should be enough, because I don't think 20 minutes should be enough for Fulham to change the course of the game.

“They're going to score, they almost certainly will score, but I'm hoping... I guess I feel a bit more confident given the fact that we managed to grab that victory (against Leeds) from the jaws of frustrating nothingness. We were so close to shooting ourselves in the foot, but we learned the lesson while also getting a confidence boost at the same time.

“We’ve had three very tough games in terms of morale and I don't think they walked into the dressing room after the Leeds game like ‘good job lads, we did really well’, they would have been like ‘we got away with that one a little bit’. There would have been a sigh of relief, and there would have been a real dressing down of that City side and what they're doing wrong.

“I'm expecting another approach to the Fulham game to shore up that team and to stop the transitions being so open against us, because it's too easy, but I'm quite confident about it.”

McInerney has also shared his thoughts on whether Guardiola will make many, if any, changes to his starting lineup and discusses how important a victory for Man City would be to apply pressure on leaders Arsenal.

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