Fulham vs. Manchester City: Preview
Fulham will welcome Manchester City for the fourteenth Barclays Premier League round. Mark Hughes, who would be the circle of attention in this match, would face his former employees and would be bidding to make a point in front of them. It has been less than
a year since Mark Hughes was sacked by the Citizens.
Moreover, a week ago Mark Hughes even went on to say that Manchester City was ‘disrespectful’ and Hughes clashes with his old club would surely ignite some fire in this clash.
Fulham have lost only once at home in this campaign, out of 13 games they have lost only three games and unaspiringly drew eight fixtures. The Cottagers are currently siting on the 16th spot with 14 points to their name, just one point above the bottom three.
A win over Citizens would take Mark Hughes’ men to the top half of the Barclays Premier league table.
While on the other side, Mark Hughes counterpart and the man who took his place, Roberto Mancini, has come under severe criticism for applying a negative approach. These criticisms came after three consecutive draws against Manchester United, Birmingham City
and Everton. Moreover, they also failed to score in their last three matches but did keep clean sheets in all three.
However, their recent away has been quite impressive as they have won three of their last four matches on the road.
In addition to this, Manchester City won last two matches and drew two out of the last four against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
TEAM NEWS
Fulham
Fulham’s injury list was already populated with the likes of Fredik Stoor, Bobby Zamora and Philippe Senderos and now Moussa Dembele is also added to it. Dembele sustained an ankle injury and is expected to return next month. However, Fulham’s centre halves
Chris Baird and Carlos Salcido returned to the first team and are in contention for the starting eleven spot.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Kelly, Salcido, Hughes, Baird, Hangeland, Duff, Dempsey, Murphy, Davies, Gera, Etuhu, A Johnson, E Johnson, Stockdale, Pantsil, Kamara, Greening, Briggs.
Manchester City
Manchester City’s inspiring keeper Joe Hart is expected to start following his return from a back injury during a training session. Moreover, City’s defensive midfielder Gareth Barry, Lescott and Richards are unlikely to be named in the squad due to the injuries.
Manchester City would welcome their talismanic skipper, Carlos Tevez, who has been declared fit to feature against Fulham. Moreover, Mario Balotelli would also be available for this match.
Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Zabaleta, Bridge, Lescott, Boyata, De Jong, Vieira, Barry, A Johnson, K Toure, Y Toure, Tevez, Silva, Adebayor, Kolarov, Given, Milner, Kompany, Boateng.
Tags: