Preview: Manchester City vs Fulham - prediction, team news, lineups

Fresh from their memorable triumph at Anfield, Manchester City will attempt to apply more pressure on Premier League title rivals Arsenal when they welcome Fulham to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.

The two teams meet just over two months on from their nine-goal thriller at Craven Cottage which the Citizens won by a 5-4 scoreline.

Match preview

Man City were around 10 minutes away from crashing out of the Premier League title race and falling nine points behind leaders Arsenal, but Pep Guardiola’s men fought back like true champions do to claim an important 2-1 victory against Liverpool in dramatic fashion at a stadium where they had previously won just once in 10 games under their Catalan coach.

Bernardo Silva’s 84th-minute equaliser was followed by Erling Haaland’s 93rd-minute winner from the penalty spot, helping the Citizens reduce the gap at the summit to six points. City could close the gap to just three points with a win over Fulham before the Gunners travel to in-form Brentford on Thursday.

Guardiola and co will welcome a return to the Etihad where they have accumulated 44 points from a possible 51 available across their last 17 Premier League home games (W14 D2 L1) and are unbeaten in their last 11 in front of their own fans (W9 D2), with only Sunderland (12) enjoying a longer unbeaten home run.

Man City should be confident of success on Wednesday, as they have won each of their last 19 encounters against Fulham in all tournaments and have prevailed in all of their last 16 Premier League meetings with the Cottagers - both of these impressive winning runs are the longest one team has ever had against another in English football league history.

In addition, the Citizens love a midweek fixture at the Etihad, as they have not lost any of their last 55 Premier League home games played on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday (W47 D8) since suffering a narrow 1-0 loss to Tottenham in May 2010.

Fulham are among a cluster of Premier League teams who are vying to secure European qualification heading into the final third of this season, but a run of three defeats in their last four games has set them back slightly in their pursuit of a top-seven finish.

The Cottagers beat Brighton 2-1 either side of one-goal defeats to Leeds (1-0) and Man United (3-2), before letting a one-goal lead slip with 15 minutes remaining to lose 2-1 at home to Everton last weekend, with an own goal from Bernd Leno condemning the West London side to their 11th defeat of the campaign.

Head coach Marco Silva lamented Fulham’s lack of ruthlessness in the final third and how they “stopped playing” against Everton in the second half after a dominant first 45. The Cottagers have subsequently slipped to 10th in the table and four points behind Brentford in seventh spot.

A swift return to winning ways could prove challenging for Fulham, who have won only three of their 44 Premier League away games against teams starting the day in the top three of the table (D9 L32), beating Man United in October 2003, Spurs in March 2013 and Chelsea in December 2024.

As a manager, Silva has lost all 13 of his top-flight battles against Man City, the most one manager has faced an opponent with a 100% loss rate, while Fulham have lost each of their last eight league visits to the blue side of Manchester by an aggregate score of 25-4. However, three of their four PL victories against the Citizens have come at the Etihad.

Manchester City Premier League form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Fulham Premier League form:

Fulham form (all competitions):

Team News

Man City’s Jeremy Doku (calf), Savinho (unspecified), John Stones (fitness), Josko Gvardiol (tibial fracture) and Mateo Kovacic (ankle/heel) all remain in the treatment room, while Abdukodir Khusanov will be assessed after coming off against Liverpool as a concussion substitute.

Should Khusanov be fit to start, he would likely play alongside Marc Guehi at centre-back, though Guardiola may decide to recall Ruben Dias, who featured as a substitute last time out after missing the previous eight games through injury.

Haaland has been involved in 10 goals in just seven PL appearances against Fulham (seven goals, three assists) and e could be supported in attack by Antoine Semenyo, who has been involved in five goals in his last three PL games against the Cottagers (three goals, two assists), having a hand in all of three of Bournemouth’s goals in their 3-1 win earlier this season (two goals, one assist).

Both Semenyo and Omar Marmoush provided support in attack for Haaland against Liverpool, but Guardiola may be tempted to recall one or both of Rayan Cherki or Phil Foden on Wednesday, the latter of whom scored twice in the aforementioned 5-4 victory for City at Craven Cottage.

As for Fulham, Sasa Lukic is still recovering from a thigh injury, while captain Tom Cairney missed the defeat to Everton with a calf issue and is a doubt for the trip to the Etihad.

Silva will consider making some changes in defence, with right-back Kenny Tete, centre-back Calvin Bassey and left-back Antonee Robinson all pushing for a recall at the expense of Timothy Castagne, Jorge Cuenca and Ryan Sessegnon respectively

January signing Oscar Bobb joined Fulham from Man City for a reported £27m and made his debut for the club as a substitute against Everton. The Norwegian winger is not expected to displace top scorer Harry Wilson - who has nine goals to his name this term - but he could put Samuel Chukwueze’s starting spot under threat.

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; Rodri, O’Reilly; Bernardo, Cherki; Semenyo, Haaland

Fulham possible starting lineup:

Leno; Tete, Andersen, Cuenca, Robinson; Iwobi, Berge; Wilson, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze; Jimenez

We say: Manchester City 3-1 Fulham

If the reverse fixture is anything to go by, then we could be in for another Premier League cracker this week, with both sides expected to adopt a positive, attack-minded approach.

Taking into account Man City’s exceptional head-to-head record against Fulham, their strong home form, and the Cottagers’ recent dip, it is difficult to back against the Citizens on this occasions. A home victory with both teams scoring could be on the cards here.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.