Analysing Fulham ahead of our Premier League meeting

Manchester City will attempt to extend the longest winning streak in English football history when Marco Silva’s Fulham arrive at the Etihad on Wednesday for a 19:30 kick-off, the champions buoyed by the dramatic triumph at Liverpool that keeps them six points behind leaders Arsenal.

City’s dominance over the Cottagers borders on the surreal: 19 consecutive victories in all competitions, 16 of them in the Premier League, stretching back to a defeat 26 meetings ago in 2009. Pep Guardiola’s side have scored at least twice in every clash during that sequence, amassing 84 goals in 35 top-flight meetings while conceding 40. The most recent instalment, a 5-4 thriller in December, underlined both City’s firepower and Fulham’s capacity to make life uncomfortable.

Yet Silva’s team arrive in Manchester sitting 10th in the table on 34 points from 25 games, only three off eighth and three clear of 14th. Their form curve has oscillated: two wins and three defeats in the last five league outings, a pattern befitting a side ensconced in the mid-table peloton.

The Londoners have settled on a 4-2-3-1 blueprint. Bernd Leno (63.7 per cent save rate) is an automatic pick between the posts, shielded by a back four of Timothy Castagne, Joachim Andersen, Jorge Cuenca and Antonee Robinson. Sander Berge and Alex Iwobi sit deepest in midfield, with summer signing Emile Smith Rowe operating as the advanced link. Harry Wilson, fresh from eight goals and four assists, starts on the right; either Kevin Mbabu or Samuel Chukwueke, who also has four assists, patrols the opposite flank behind veteran striker Raul Jimenez, whose six league goals make him second only to Wilson.

Fulham’s 35 goals this season have come from an expected goals tally of 29.6, a league-leading over-performance of 5.4 bettered only by Tottenham. They are quick starters—five goals inside the opening 15 minutes rank fourth in the division—and they are similarly solid early on, yet to concede in the first quarter-hour. Aerially they are robust, allowing only four headed goals, but 37 in total shipped leaves them with the seventh-worst defensive record.

Possession is central to Silva’s philosophy: 478 completed passes per game place Fulham fifth among Premier League sides, yet they rank last for high regains (57) in the final third, preferring to engage opponents in deeper territory.

The Portuguese, overseeing 139 of his 234 Premier League matches with Fulham, has never avoided defeat against City in 13 attempts, his sides conceding 43 goals at an average of 3.3 per game. Wednesday presents another opportunity for Guardiola’s charges to tighten the title squeeze on Arsenal while extending a sequence that has become a modern benchmark of supremacy.

City tickets are on general sale from £30 (adults) and £15 (Under-18s), with hospitality packages from £180.