PREVIEW: Fulham look to continue positive home form against unpredictable Manchester City

After a international break lauded with speculation around Fulham’s performances and the future of manager Marco Silva, the West Londoners have returned with a bang. Victories over Sunderland and a fantastic win away at Tottenham Hotspur have seen the Cottagers put some daylight between themselves and the bottom three after serious concerns about a relegation battle were touted just last month.

Despite their broad struggles and low position in the league table, their home form has been a bright spark of an otherwise challenging start to the season: the Cottagers have lost only once in seven Craven Cottage games this season.

A strong performance against Spurs will see the Cottagers head into the game against one of the Premier League’s biggest sides with some confidence – though their opponents in question aren’t quite at their best.

Manchester City have been in an inconsistent run of form as of late. Their defeat away at St. James’ Park was followed by a 2-0 home defeat in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen. They did bounce back with a win at the weekend at home to 18th placed Leeds, but they had to wait until the 91st minute to find a winner after Leeds clawed back a two-goal deficit much to the bemusement of the Manchester City faithful. The victory spelled another goalless game for striker Erling Haaland and for a striker of such quality, three games without a goal is highly unusual.

His difficulties in front of goal have coincided with a spike in form from Phil Foden who has netted three times in the last two Premier League games. His return to the form we all saw in abundance a few seasons ago has come at a crucial time as City’s reliance on Haaland had been questioned.

Fulham will once again be without full-back Antonee Robinson who remains side-lined with a knee injury. He is joined on the treatment table by Rodrigo Muniz. Fulham winger Samuel Chukwueze produced a stellar display against Spurs and came away with an assist so is expected to be deployed in the wide position again. The experienced Alex Iwobi should continue once again in midfield as Silva isn’t expected to ring in the changes.

Manchester City are once again without Mateo Kovačić who is yet to start for the Citizens this season, they are also without Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, whose return to action has been delayed due to continued fitness concerns.

Elsewhere, Pep Guardiola may opt for a defensive duo of Rúben Dias and Joško Gvardiol with Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes likely to be deployed once again in the full back roles.

Predicted line-ups

FUL: Leno; Tete, Anderson, Bassey, Sessegnon; Iwobi, Berge; Wilson, King, Chukwueze; Jiménez