Defender misses trip to the Cottage but is "much better" according to boss
Fulham vs Manchester City
Competition: F.A. Premier League
Date: 2.00pm, Sunday 30th April 2023
Venue: Craven Cottage, London
Referee: Simon Hooper Assistants: N Davies, S Long Fourth Official: G Scott VAR: A Madley
Odds: Fulham 11/1, Draw 5/1, Man City 1/4
Tickets: Sold out
TV: Sky Sports
Fulham
Manager: Marco Silva
Squad (from): Rodak, Leno, Wickens, Tete, Adarabioyo, Duffy, Soares, Ream, Diop, Robinson, Reed, Kebano, Wilson, Cairney, Pereira, James, Palinha, Lukic, Harris, Solomon, De Cordova-Reid, Willian, Vinicius
Injured: Kurzawa
Doubtful: Wilson, Willian
Suspended: Mitrovic
Form guide: LWWLL
Manchester City
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Squad (from): Ederson, Ortega, Carson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Laporte, Akanji, Gomez, Lewis, Phillips, Gundogan, Grealish, Rodri, De Bruyne, Silva, Perrone, Foden, Palmer, Haaland, Alvarez, Mahrez
Injured: Ake
Doubtful: De Bruyne
Suspended: None
Form guide: WWDWW
Nathan Ake misses the trip to Crave Cottage as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury, although boss Pep Guardiola said that the Dutch defender is closing in on a return.
“He’s much better,” said Guardiola at Friday's press conference.
“His symptomology is good, the player knows his body and his reaction, but still he’s not training with the team.
“Everyone is fit except Nathan.”
The Blues have the opportunity to return to the top of the table with a win on Sunday, after the convincing midweek victory against Arsenal, and Guardiola belives it would give his team a lift.
“[It will be] psychology important but we just have to do our performance the best as possible and win game-by-game to be close to arriving in the last games to be champion,” he said.
“When people say it’s over, it’s not over. When it’s over it’ll be over but it’s not. Still we have seven games, Goodison Park how aggressive [Everton] were and in every single game we play there and the opponent play for special things.
“Now we have to go to Fulham and win at a special stadium against an organised team. If we do our job we’re the closest but nothing is taken for granted. We were happy of course with the Arsenal result but that’s all, the day after it’s preparing for Fulham.
“It's not 20 games left but seven games are seven games, a lot of games considering we have the Champions League around the corner.”
City won their last game against at Craven Cottage 3-0, with goals from John Stones, Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero. Overall City have won 38 of the 71 games played against the Cottagers, with 16 draws and 17 defeats.
Predicted line-up: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Laporte, Rodri, Bernardo, Gundogan, Mahrez, Grealish, Haaland
Score prediction: Fulham 1 City 3