Man City v Fulham: Premier League football predictions, free betting tips & TV

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Manchester City v Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 3pm Saturday

Best bet

Man City & under 3.5 goals
1pt 6-4 Betway

Team news

Manchester City
Nathan Ake is fit again. Sergio Aguero is City's only injury doubt.

Fulham
Kenny Tete is back in training but won't play. Terence Kongolo is also out.

Match preview

Manchester City finally hit the goal trail last weekend but don't expect Fulham to be as obliging as Burnley were when they arrive at the Etihad.

City popped five past the clueless Clarets last Saturday, the first time this normally free-scoring machine of a side had put more than three goals past anyone this season.

Fulham, the side with the worst defensive record in the top division, have been warned, but there are good grounds for thinking they won't get blown away as Burnley were.

For one thing, Scott Parker's men, after a baptism of fire, are getting a handle of the defensive tactics required to ensure their stay in the Premier League lasts longer than a single term.

And secondly, City aren't the bullies of their old. That 5-0 drubbing of Burnley was very much an exceptional effort from a team for whom five-goal batterings used to be very much the norm.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that City, basically a far better side than their guests, will win, but it may not be a massacre. Forget the cramped match odds about the hosts, but instead have an interest in City to win with under 3.5 goals. Seven of City's nine wins in 2020-21 in all competitions have been in matches which have featured under four goals.

So why might Fulham not get rolled over? At Leicester on Monday, when the Whites won 2-1 to jump out of the bottom three, they looked really well organised with a back five and four across the middle with Ivan Cavaleiro and Ademola Lookman the main out-ball.

The back three at the King Power was Ola Aina, Joachim Andersen and Tosin Adarabioyo, none of whom appeared in Fulham's first three matches of the season which saw them ship ten goals (3.3 per game). Since then they have conceded nine goals in seven (1.3 per game).

They have adjusted and improved. They look light on inspiration in the final third but that's less of an issue now as they aren't going to see much of the ball.

And City, of course, aren't scoring in the numbers they were with Sergio Aguero badly missed. In the six Premier League matches before the Burnley game they had failed to score more than once in any of them.

Three successive clean sheets is testament to the excellence of Ruben Dias and the City defence but at the other end they aren't taking their chances as efficiently as they once did.

Pep Guardiola was able to rest a number of players at Porto on Tuesday night so they should be relatively fresh for a challenge that might not be quite the cakewalk punters would have had it down as a month ago.

Key stat

City have scored one or no goals in eight of their last 12 matches.

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