How Man City could line-up against Fulham

1:32pm on Friday 4th December 2020
By Abel Meszaros

Manchester City secured top spot in Group C of the Champions League in midweek with a 0-0 draw away at Porto.

The result means Pep Guardiola can place his full attention on the upcoming visit of Fulham, who are high on confidence after securing their second Premier League win of the season last time out.

Guardiola’s men find themselves in unfamiliar territory at the moment after a slow start to the new campaign has left them languishing in ninth position, six points behind table-toppers Tottenham – albeit with a game in hand.

That mean City will likely be at full strength at the weekend as they can’t afford to take any chances despite Scott Parker’s side's lowly placing.

Sergio Aguero has missed the last two games with a knee injury and could return against Fulham, although Gabriel Jesus was rested from the start in Portugal and is expected to lead the line at the Etihad.

Nathan Ake returned to the bench against Porto, meaning Aguero is the only injury doubt coming into this one but, Guardiola is unlikely to alter his team too much given the impressive 5-0 thrashing of Burnley in their last league game.

City, however, could line-up in Pep’s preferred formation of 4-3-3, meaning Ilkay Gundogan or Rodri would be sacrificed for the more attack-minded Phil Foden or Bernardo Silva.

It is anticipated though that the 2018/19 champions will stick with their adopted 4-2-3-1 formation meaning Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez, who bagged a hat-trick against Burnley, will play either side of Kevin De Bruyne behind a central striker.

John Stones will be hopeful of retaining his place in the heart of defence after earning a recall for the visit of Sean Dyche’s side, but Aymeric Laporte should be the one to make up a back four including Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and Benjamin Mendy.