From the side that secured a dramatic 2-1 victory at Anfield on Sunday, Ruben Dias and Phil Foden come into Pep Guardiola’s starting line-up.
For Dias it’s a first starting appearance since he was forced off with injury against Chelsea last month.
Abdukodir Khusanov and Omar Marmoush revert to the bench.
Meanwhile John Stones who hasn’t figured since our 5-4 win at Fulham in early December through injury, is named on the bench.
Josko Gvardiol (shin), Mateo Kovacic (ankle), Jeremy Doku (leg) and Savinho (thigh) all remain unavailable due to injury.
Teams
CITY XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Guéhi, Ait-Nouri, Rodri, Bernardo (C), O’Reilly, Semenyo, Foden, Haaland
Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Marmoush, Cherki, Nico, Khusanov, Alleyne, Lewis
FULHAM XI: Leno, Tete, Andersen (C), Bassey, Sessegnon, Berge, Iwobi, Wilson, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze, Jimenez
Subs: Lecomte, Castagne, Cuenca, Robinson, Reed, King, Bobb, Kevin, Muniz
Formation and tactics
Gianluigi Donnarumma will be the familiar reassuring figure in goal and shielded by a back four of Matheus Nunes, Dias, Marc Guéhi and Rayan Ait-Nouri.
Rodri is set to be deployed as the holding midfielder with skipper Bernardo Silva and Nico O’Reilly also in the City engine room.
Erling Haaland will be the Blues’ central attacking focal point with Antoine Semenyo and Phil Foden providing the attacking width.
However, as always, such is the tactical and technical fluidity within Pep’s squad that could well be subject to change!
Twenty somethings?
If we are in need of any encouraging omens, City go into tonight’s match boasting an incredible record against Fulham.
The Blues have won our last 19 home meetings with the Cottagers across all competitions.
Not surprisingly it represents the longest winning run one side has had against another in English league history.
Given that victory would see City reduce Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League to three points – for 24 hours at least – it means there is even extra incentive to see if we can extend that remarkable sequence of wins.
Duke of Erl
Erling Haaland is no stranger to goals of course but its fair to say there’s something about Fulham that seems to bring the sharp shooting best out of our master marksman.
In just seven appearances against Marco Silva’s side to date, Erling has already been involved in 10 goals, (a run that consists of 7 goals, 3 assists).
Amongst that haul was an injury time penalty winner back in 2022/23 and a second half treble the following season.
Meanwhile, his opening goal in December’s 5-4 thriller with the Londoners at Craven Cottage saw Haaland chalk up his 100th Premier League goal for City.
And if he finds the target again tonight, Erling will achieve another milestone as one more goal would take him to 153 City career goals in total – and level with the legendary Colin Bell.
No lack of incentive for Erling then!
Stats and facts
- City have won our last 16 Premier League meetings with Fulham, the longest winning run one side has had against another in English league history.
- Fulham have lost their last eight away league games against City by an aggregate score of 25-4, though three of their four Premier League victories against the Citizens have come at the Etihad Stadium.
- City haven’t lost any of our last 55 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League home games (W47 D8) since a 1-0 loss to Tottenham in May 2010.
- City have picked up 44 points from a possible 51 in our last 17 home Premier League matches (W14 D2 L1) and are unbeaten in our last 11 at the Etihad (W9 D2), with only Sunderland (12) on a longer home unbeaten run.
- Fulham have won three out of 44 away Premier League matches against sides starting the day in the top three of the league (D9 L32), beating Man Utd in October 2003, Spurs in March 2013 and Chelsea in December 2024.
- Fulham boss Marco Silva has lost all 13 of his Premier League games against City, the most one manager has faced an opponent with a 100% loss rate.
- City’s Antoine Semenyo has been involved in five goals in his last three Premier League appearances against Fulham (3 goals, 2 assists), having a hand in all of Bournemouth’s goals in their 3-1 win against the Cottagers earlier this season (2 goals, 1 assist).
- Both Raúl Jiménez and Kevin scored in Fulham’s 3-2 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford earlier this month. The last Cottagers player to score away at both Man Utd and City in the same top-flight season was Pat O’Connell in 1962-63.
See City in the FA Cup!
There’s no membership needed to get up to four tickets per person for our FA Cup fourth round clash with neighbours Salford City*.
Priced from £17.50 for adults and £7.50 for children, it’s a fun day out for all the family on Saturday 14 February.
Hospitality for this game starts from just £60 with a wide range of options to suit every budget!
*Tickets are on sale to all fans who have purchased at least one home fixture. You must have had an active supporter number before Sunday 11 January and the previous purchase number excludes previous fixtures v Salford.
