A look ahead to tomorrow's game at Craven Cottage
Fulham vs Manchester City
Date: 3pm, Saturday 21st December 2013
Venue: Craven Cottage, Fulham
Referee: Kevin Friend. Assistants: D Cann, R West. Fourth Official: A Marriner.
Odds: Fulham 17/2, Draw 17/4, Manchester City 4/11
Tickets: Sold out.
TV: Match of the Day (highlights).
Fulham
Manager: Rene Meulensteen
Squad (from): Stekelenburg, Stockdale, Amorebieta, Briggs, Hughes, Riether, Riise, Senderos, Boateng, Dejagah, Duff, Frei, Kacaniklic, Karagounis, Kasami, Parker, Richardson, Sidwell, Taarabt, Zverotic, Bent, Berbatov, Ruiz.
Injured: Rodallega, Hangeland
Doubtful:Amorebieta
Suspended: None
Form guide: LWLLLLL
Manchester City
Manager: Manuel Pellegrini
Squad (from):Hart, Pantilimon, Wright, Boyata, Clichy, Demichelis, Kolarov, Kompany, Lescott, Nastasic, Garcia, Fernandinho, Milner, Nasri, Navas, Rodwell, Silva, Toure, Dzeko, Guidetti, Jovetic, Negredo, Nimely.
Injured: Richards, Nastasic, Jovetic, Aguero, Zabaleta
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Form guide: WDWWWL
City are without five first team players for the trip to Craven Cottage, with Pablo Zabaleta (hamstring) and Sergio Aguero (calf) unvailable for selection after sustaining injuries against Leicester and Arsenal respectively. Micah Richards and Matija Nastasic are absent again, whilst the beleagured Stefan Jovetic is still suffering from the illness that forced him to miss the midweek Capital One Cup victory at Leicester.
Manuel Pellegrini faces a selection headache, with neither orthodox right-back available to him. The Chilean must choose between Milner, Boyata, Kolarov or Clichy to fill the role. The injury to Aguero could see City play a five man midfield, with David Silva playing just behind the centre forward (likely to be Alvaro Negredo, despite Edin Dzeko's midweek brace). Despite Fulham's lowly league position, the manager is expecting a difficult game.
"For different reasons, it is always very hard to play all teams in the EPL, but the important thing is the way we play the game," asserted Pellegrini.
"I think the results of the first games playing away was not what we deserved. It's very important for this team to win away.
"We won the three games in the Champions League playing away, that's important. We won the two games playing away in Capital One also and in the Premier League the last two games we drew and we won, so I hope we will continue in the same way."
Fulham are without the injured Hugo Rodallega and Brede Hangeland, whilst defender Fernando Amorebieta faces a late fitness test on his hamstring.
City's last league game at Craven Cottage ended in a 2-1 victory, with Edin Dzeko grabbing a late winner for the Blues. Overall City have won 28 of the 61 games played against Fulham, with 16 draws and 17 defeats.
Prediction: Fulham 1 City 2
Read the views of Fulham fan Niclas Bylund from Hammyend.com on all things Fulham and tomorrow's game here.