Manchester City v Fulham: The Opposition

Manchester Metropolis will look to construct on their spectacular end result on Sunday once they tackle Fulham on the Etihad Stadium. The Blues are six factors behind Arsenal within the race for the title, with the Gunners nonetheless to go to Manchester, and victory for Metropolis will preserve the stress on, provided that Arsenal don’t play till Thursday.

Whereas the Gunners would nonetheless have a sport in hand on the Blues, Metropolis could have a psychological benefit as they are going to be seen as respiratory down Arsenal necks because the season steams in the direction of its finale.

Fulham arrive in Manchester a bit of on the erratic aspect. They’ve misplaced three and gained two of their final six matches and haven’t gained away from house since a 1-0 victory at West Ham on the finish of 2025. That win was solely their third on their travels this season, and Metropolis, buoyed from their win at Anfield, shall be filled with confidence going into the match.

Fulham’s latest kind has seen them drop disappointingly down the desk. They’ve misplaced each their fixtures in February, dropping at house to Everton final weekend after dropping at Outdated Trafford the week earlier than. Their 12 months started with successive attracts and Crystal Palace (1-1) and at house to Liverpool (2-2), earlier than beating Chelsea at house.

Their up and down kind noticed them have to return again from a objective right down to beat Middlesbrough 3-1, then take a 1-0 loss at Leeds earlier than beating Brighton 2-1.

The Cottagers have misplaced seven matches on the street, profitable simply three. They’ve scored 13 targets on their travels, conceding 21 and have stored only one clear sheet on their journeys up to now.

Harry Wilson is Fulham’s predominant hazard towards the Blues. Wilson has scored eight targets from 24 matches, has made 53 makes an attempt at objective and has a 15% objective conversion price. Wilson’s final objective got here within the 2-1 house victory over Brighton on the finish of January, and his final Premier League objective away from Craven Cottage was the profitable objective in Fulham’s 3-2 win at Burnley in December.

Raul Jimenez has scored six targets from 24 matches, however, with 54 makes an attempt on the right track, has a worse objective conversion price than Wilson, which is simply 11%. Jimenez’s final objective was an eighty fifth minute penalty at Outdated Trafford originally of the month.

Wilson has additionally taken accountability for assists as effectively. He has created 25 probabilities, 4 of which have been taken. He has tried 547 passes, 444 of which have been profitable, giving him a go accuracy score of 81%.

Samuel Chukwueze additionally has 4 assists from 14 probabilities created from 12 matches. If Metropolis need to beat Fulham on Wednesday, they might want to cease Wilson, Jimenez and Chukwueze first.

Marco Silva is the person on the helm at Craven Cottage. The previous Hull, Watford and Everton supervisor has been in cost since July 2021, guiding them again to the Premier League in his first season. He has managed 214 matches for Fulham, profitable 94 and dropping 75, giving him a win ratio of 44%.

Metropolis have been cruising at Craven Cottage in December, however Fulham gave them an enormous scare. Erling Haaland, Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden had given Metropolis a 3-0 lead, just for Smith-Rowe to tug a objective again on the stroke of half-time. Inside 9 minutes of the second half, Metropolis have been 5-1 up thanks to a different Foden objective and an personal objective.

Nevertheless, Alex Iwobi and a brace by Samuel Chukwueze made it 4-5 and the Cottagers nearly snatched an unlikely level when Josh King had a shot cleared of the road within the closing moments.