Opposition focus: City expected to win against Fulham

Fulham have enjoyed a fairly mixed set of results so far in their four games since returning to the Premier League. Losses away to Crystal Palace and Tottenham were countered by a good home win against Burnley and a draw away at Brighton.

The Fulham manager Jokanovic has received plaudits for his attempts to build a neat passing team but so far his side have not quite settled into a consistent style of play.

Fulham added a considerable number of new players in the Summer 2018 transfer window and despite the quality of the players purchased- its probably understandable they have not yet gelled fully. Seven new signings and six loan signings were added at a total cost of around £100 million.

Of these Jean Michael Serri was their most expensive import at an initial cost of £27 million and he had been closely scouted by a number of larger clubs. Serri has the ability to unlock a team through cultured passing but whether he can withstand the rigours and pace of the Premier League remains to be seen.

Other purchases such as Aleksander Mitrovic and Alfie Mawson should require less time to settle in the Premier League for Fulham.

Most of the purchases seem well considered and careful – signing the young Bristol City left back Joe Bryan for £6 million could yet prove to be a snip – and the loan signing of ex Chelsea star Andre Schurrle may prove to be a godsend as the winter approaches. His ability to add goals from midfield may well be decisive as the season plays out.

The games Fulham have played so far this season have been characterised by scoring good goals from open attacking play at pace – something we know our Manchester City side have been vulnerable to at times.

Mitrovic has burst into some life and we all know he has a goal against us in him, probably against the run of play.

However its also fair to say Fulham have given the ball away at times – losing possession quite cheaply through poorly executed passing and failing to recover the ball by not pressing as a team unit.

If they should play like this against Manchester City they could find themselves on the wrong end of a high score.

Some of the Fulham defence have at times been caught out through poor positioning. I expect they will have worked hard on this in preparation for the game against us.

Breaking quick and feeding Mitrovic will be the key – how much Fulham will risk against our team will be interesting. Will they be cavalier in an attempt to secure an early goal?

I doubt Fulham will be able to maintain the level of concentration required against us to profit over 90 minutes. I expect they will lose the ball and find it difficult to recover. I suspect they may find it difficult to maintain a defensive approach. It does not play to their team strengths.

A cursory look over Fulham Fan forums and it seems clear the fans are not overly optimistic about facing us. They mostly believe they will nick a goal against us but lose by 2 or 3 believing defensively they will be too weak to withstand any kind of onslaught by our slick side. I tend to agree.

Whilst we all know it can be easy to suffer the indignity of a red card which can change a game, I am expecting a City win on Saturday.

I believe if we settle our nerves by scoring early we will keep the ball to see out a victory. I would love to see our team reach the heights we had last season by this stage where we beat Stoke City 7:2 at home but we had not really got into gear before the international break.

Whilst I suspect some of our players may feel more rested – we have not yet achieved the kind of momentum we need to achieve where momentum alone can help us cross the line. Consequently i think we will need to be on top of our game on Saturday to come away with a victory.

The advantage we have is David Silva should be rested having retired from international duty, he will again prove to be our key player. Other players who have not featured in the internationals will also have an opportunity to make a difference.

I believe this is the game where we see Otamendi back in a blue shirt. The impact of the injury to Raheem Sterling probably won’t be clear until Guardiolas press conference on Friday – but this is not the kind of game where we need to take that risk. Similarly it is difficult to predict whether Leroy Sane will be involved following the birth of his baby.

Having watched Fulham play, this is a game I expect Pep to deploy his wingers. I also think he will be keen to give the wingers another opportunity to play alongside advancing fullbacks, in the hope they find space rather than cancelling each other out. Therefore my predicted team is 4-3-3:

Goalkeeper: Ederson

Defenders : Mendy, Laporte, Otamendi, Walker

Midfield: David Silva, Bernardo, Fernandinho

Attackers: Sane, Aguero,Mahrez