On Saturday the 11th of May as part of the 37th Premier League tour, Fulham is set to host Manchester City on their home turf. The Cottagers round off their season without any motive and haven't seen victory in three consecutive matches, while the Cityzens are battling for the championship title and simply cannot falter.
The match will take place in London at Craven Cottage.
Currently ranking 13th in the Premier League table with 44 accumulated points, Fulham concludes the season without any tasks to fulfill. The perspective of relegation never bothered the London squad and for understandable reasons they've lost motivation in the final weeks. Indeed, the Cottagers have only won one of their last seven Championship matches, drawing thrice and losing thrice. Having suffered defeat from Liverpool (1:3), Silva's team drew with Crystal Palace (1:1) and Brentford (0:0) last weekend, even though the Whites outperformed the Bees nearly twofold in terms of shots on goal.
The capital squad gained 65% (29 out of 44) of their points at home this season, and Craven Cottage has already seen victories over Arsenal and Tottenham, so the home team supporters have sound reasons to hope that this weekend will also see their favourites succeed. The Cottagers are in a respectable 10th place in terms of points harvested on their home ground, yet in only one of six previous tours, they managed to score more than once per game.
Manchester City may again become the triumphant of England by the end of the current season. Right now, the Cityzens are in 2nd place in the Premier League table, having one game in reserve and trailing Arsenal by one point. Accordingly, the fate of the title is in their own hands, but the guests are not permitted to make any mistakes. Pep Guardiola's squad has not lost any of the last 20 Championship matches (16 victories and 4 draws).
After a home draw with Arsenal (0:0), they consecutively triumphed over Aston Villa (4:1), Crystal Palace (2:4), Luton (5:1), Brighton (0:4), Nottingham Forest (0:2) and Wolverhampton (5:1) last weekend. Erling Haaland pulled off a poker in the first half and Julian Alvarez marked a goal in the final five minutes of the match. It's hard to imagine that the reigning champions will lose points this Saturday, being the best team in the Premier League when performing out-of-home (38 points in 17 away games, 39 goals netted, 18 conceded).
City have scored in each of their last 15 trips to Craven Cottage, setting an absolute Premier League record. The first round face-off, predictably, ended with a rout of Fulham (5:1).
Fulham has certainly tested many teams' nerves on their home ground this season, but it's hard to imagine that the Cottagers could halt Guardiola's championship title-chasing machine. As we all have figured out over the past few years, City does not slip up at the decisive phase of a campaign, thus we confidently bet on the guests' victory with a handicap of -1.5.
In all of the five previous head-to-head meetings, these teams scored at least three goals collectively. Of course, the Cityzens outclass their adversary, however, the hosts themselves are capable of distinguishing themselves at least once - I'm betting on a total of over 3.5 goals.
Manchester City outclasses its adversary, is motivated by the title chase and will be the first to take action, thus it makes sense to bet on Manchester City's individual total of over 6.5 corners.
Fulham is due for much defence, and defending without regular fouls in a match against City is virtually impossible. I'm betting on Fulham winning in terms of yellow cards.
I'm betting on a precise score of 1:3 in favour of Manchester City.
# | Team | P | W | D | L | GD | G | PTS | |
1 | Liverpool | 23 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 35 | 56:21 | 56 | |
2 | Arsenal | 24 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 27 | 49:22 | 50 | |
3 | Nottingham | 24 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 40:27 | 47 | |
4 | Chelsea | 24 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 47:31 | 43 | |
5 | Manchester City | 24 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 48:35 | 41 | |
6 | Newcastle | 24 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 42:29 | 41 | |
7 | Bournemouth | 24 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 41:28 | 40 | |
8 | Aston Villa | 24 | 10 | 7 | 7 | -3 | 34:37 | 37 | |
9 | Fulham | 24 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 36:32 | 36 | |
10 | Brighton | 24 | 8 | 10 | 6 | -3 | 35:38 | 34 | |
11 | Brentford | 24 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 42:42 | 31 | |
12 | Crystal Palace | 24 | 7 | 9 | 8 | -2 | 28:30 | 30 | |
13 | Manchester Utd | 24 | 8 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 28:34 | 29 | |
14 | Tottenham | 24 | 8 | 3 | 13 | 11 | 48:37 | 27 | |
15 | West Ham | 24 | 7 | 6 | 11 | -17 | 29:46 | 27 | |
16 | Everton | 23 | 6 | 8 | 9 | -5 | 23:28 | 26 | |
17 | Wolves | 24 | 5 | 4 | 15 | -18 | 34:52 | 19 | |
18 | Leicester | 24 | 4 | 5 | 15 | -28 | 25:53 | 17 | |
19 | Ipswich | 24 | 3 | 7 | 14 | -27 | 22:49 | 16 | |
20 | Southampton | 24 | 2 | 3 | 19 | -36 | 18:54 | 9 | |
1 | Arsenal | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 27:10 | 28 | |
2 | Liverpool | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 24:9 | 26 | |
3 | Nottingham | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 22:10 | 24 | |
4 | Manchester City | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 24:15 | 23 | |
5 | Aston Villa | 12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 20:14 | 23 | |
6 | Brentford | 13 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 29:25 | 23 | |
7 | Chelsea | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 22:15 | 22 | |
8 | Bournemouth | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 17:9 | 21 | |
9 | Newcastle | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 20:14 | 20 | |
10 | Fulham | 12 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 18:18 | 17 | |
11 | Manchester Utd | 13 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 17:22 | 16 | |
12 | Everton | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 16:13 | 16 | |
13 | Brighton | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 14:14 | 15 | |
14 | Tottenham | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 27:23 | 14 | |
15 | West Ham | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 16:26 | 14 | |
16 | Crystal Palace | 12 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 11:19 | 11 | |
17 | Wolves | 12 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 16:24 | 10 | |
18 | Leicester | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 11:21 | 9 | |
19 | Ipswich | 13 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 9:26 | 7 | |
20 | Southampton | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 8:30 | 4 | |
1 | Liverpool | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 32:12 | 30 | |
2 | Nottingham | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 18:17 | 23 | |
3 | Arsenal | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 22:12 | 22 | |
4 | Chelsea | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 25:16 | 21 | |
5 | Newcastle | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 22:15 | 21 | |
6 | Bournemouth | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 24:19 | 19 | |
7 | Fulham | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 18:14 | 19 | |
8 | Brighton | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 21:24 | 19 | |
9 | Crystal Palace | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 17:11 | 19 | |
10 | Manchester City | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 24:20 | 18 | |
11 | Aston Villa | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 14:23 | 14 | |
12 | Manchester Utd | 11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 11:12 | 13 | |
13 | Tottenham | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 21:14 | 13 | |
14 | West Ham | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 13:20 | 13 | |
15 | Everton | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 7:15 | 10 | |
16 | Wolves | 12 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 18:28 | 9 | |
17 | Ipswich | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 13:23 | 9 | |
18 | Brentford | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 13:17 | 8 | |
19 | Leicester | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 14:32 | 8 | |
20 | Southampton | 13 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 10:24 | 5 |
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