Duell der Tabellenführer!
With Manchester City against Fulham a duel between a first division team and representatives from the second division Championship takes place. Both teams are in first place in their respective divisions, which is why the hosts are poised to defend their title in the top flight of British football. The visitors, meanwhile, can hope for a return to the Premier League.
For the opponents, it is also their second appearance in the competition. The home side beat League Two side Swindon Town 4-1 away from home in the previous round, while the Londoners defeated league rivals Bristol after extra time.
For the match at the Etihad Stadium between Manchester City and Fulham, betting on an away win, including a handicap + 2.5 goals for the visitors, looks profitable.
Manchester City – Statistics & current form
The Citizens can start chilling the champagne in anticipation of celebrating a successful defence of their Premier League title. Thanks to a run of 13 unbeaten league games, first place in the British top flight is becoming increasingly comfortable. Recently, however, at least the winning streak snapped: after a dozen victories, the Saints only managed a 1-1 draw in their visit to the south coast.
City are very strong at home
In the upcoming match, however, coach Pep Guardiola will again rely on the home bonus: Nine of the eleven home matches played so far in league play have been victorious (9-1-1) – the best yield in a league-wide comparison.
Above all, the offensive is turning up the heat in the home games: This is reflected in an average of almost three own goals per league match. Once again, no rival from the Premier League can top this record. In addition, Riyad Mahrez, a powerful attacking player, is back on board after playing for his home country Algeria in the Africa Cup.
KDB is on an upward trajectory
Kevin de Bruyne is also showing improved form. In the past six seasons, the Belgian international has only once failed to deliver a double-digit number of assists towards the final tally, but this season he initially paled due to intermittent injuries.
Now, however, things are going noticeably better for the redhead. This can be seen in the fact that KDB has scored four goals and made his first two assists in the league in the past eight competitive games.
Predicted Manchester City line-up:
Ederson – Laporte – Dias – Walker – Cancelo – de Bruyne – Rodri – Silva – Sterling – Grealish – Foden
Last matches played by Manchester City:
Premier League
01/22 2022 – Southampton 1 – 1 Manchester City
01/15 2022 – Manchester City 1 – 0 Chelsea London
FA Cup
01/07 2022 – Swindon 1 – 4 Manchester City
Premier League
01/01 2022 – Arsenal London 1 – 2 Manchester City
12/29 2021 – Brentford 0 – 1 Manchester City
Fulham – Statistics & current form
The Londoners experienced a period of weakness at the end of last year: no win was achieved over five league games, but thanks to the aforementioned success against Bristol in the last round of the FA Cup, this crisis was ended. After the narrow success against the “Robins”, coach Marco Silva’s team also got back on the road to success in the Championship.
Since then, the Lilywhites have achieved four wins and a draw, which has enabled them to regain the top spot in the table from Bournemouth. The upswing was mainly due to the improved attack: The Londoners have scored no less than 23 goals in the past five league games!
Goals on both sides?
In view of this, the odds on both sides scoring in the clash between Manchester City and Fulham also offer themselves. In terms of attack, Aleksandr Mitrovic deserves special praise. The Serbian is the clear leader in the Championship scoring charts with 28 goals after 26 appearances!
He is also currently almost unstoppable: the 27-year-old has scored six goals in his last four appearances. Against this backdrop, the forecast for his next goal celebration is also worth considering.
Especially because of his performances, Fulham has the best attack in the British lower house. In this regard, the Londoners have almost 30 goals more compared to the second best attacking line-up in the Championship, which is Blackburn. A huge gap, which quickly makes it clear that the visitors’ offence is the absolute ultimate in the Championship!
Predicted line-up of Fulham:
Rodak – Ream – Bryan – Adarabioyo – Odoi – Cairney – Reed – Kebano – Carvalho – Wilson – Mitrovic
Last matches played by Fulham:
Championship
01/29 2022 – Fulham 1 – 1 Blackpool
01/22 2022 – Stoke 2 – 3 Fulham
01/18 2022 – Fulham 6 – 2 Birmingham
01/15 2022 – Fulham 6 – 2 Bristol City
01/11 2022 – Reading 0 – 7 Fulham
Manchester City – Fulham Direct Comparison / H2H Record
The last time the footballers from the west of London and the six-time winner of the FA Cup faced each other was in March last year. On that occasion, Fulham suffered an emphatic 3-0 defeat at home to Craven Cottage. The win means the champions are unbeaten (14-3-0) in just under 14 years and 17 duels in this pairing!
Manchester City – Fulham Tip
FFC’s greatest achievement in the competition was reaching the final of the 1975 edition, when they were beaten 2-0 by West Ham in the London derby, and since then the oldest club still active at professional level in the capital has always bowed out in the previous rounds.
Even now, it looks like the competition will be over after the upcoming match against Guardiola’s eleven. The Citizens are already out of their league for the rest of the Premier League at the moment, so the second division club’s chances are slim.
For the clash between Manchester City and Fulham, however, betting on a defeat of the visitors with a maximum difference of two goals seems profitable. The Cottagers have been very stable lately and especially convincing offensively.
For this reason, the expected defeat at the Etihad Stadium should at least not be in the form of a defeat. Unibet offers betting odds of 1.86 on the clash between Manchester City and Fulham
