"Pep Guardiola’s not there" - Mark Lawrenson predicts winner of Manchester City vs Fulham

Former Liverpool player Mark Lawrenson has predicted that Manchester City will beat Fulham 2-0 in the Premier League at the Etihad on Saturday, September 2.

The Cityzens come into this game on the back of a late 2-1 Premier League win against Sheffield United. They are currently the only team in the English First Division to win all their league games so far.

They will nevertheless be looking to topple West Ham United from the top of the table, who have 10 points having played one more game. Pep Guardiola will not be on the touchline once again as he is recovering from back surgery and assistant manager Juanma Lillo will be in the dugout instead.

Fulham, meanwhile, are riding on the high of securing a late 2-2 league draw against Arsenal despite being a man down. But Lawrenson doesn't believe they can replicate a similar result against the defending champions.

The pundit wrote for PaddyPower:

"Fulham got a good result at Arsenal but I don’t think they can repeat it in this game... We know Pep Guardiola’s not there but they’re on the phone to him! Fulham aren’t bad defensively and I love the defensive midfielder player, Joao Palhinha, but it’s got to be City to win. Manchester City 2-0 Fulham."

The Cityzens have been dominant in this fixture in recent years and are on a 14-game winning run against Fulham across competitions.

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Manchester City's assistant manager says Pep Guardiola was actively in touch with the dugout against Sheffield United

Pep Guardiola wasn't present on the touchline in Manchester City's 2-1 win against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Instead, assistant manager Juanma Lillo took his spot in the dugout. He sat on Guardiola's seat but admitted that he did so reluctantly. After the game, the former Al-Sadd manager told reporters (h/t the Guardian):

"He’s [Guardiola] been totally present [in communication] today. If there’d been more space on the bench, I wouldn’t have sat in his seat on the bench. Pep’s seat is Pep’s seat. Only his [physical] presence was missing today but he was with us for the whole time."

Erling Haaland made up for his first-half penalty miss in the 63rd minute when he opened the scoring for the visitors. But an 85th-minute strike from Jayden Bogle, resulting from a Kyle Walker error, meant the Cityzens were in danger of dropping two points.

Rodri, however, popped up in the right space at the right time and hit an unstoppable left-footed volley past Wes Foderingham two minutes from time.

Manchester City will now hope to continue their winning run in the game against Fulham, with Guardiola expected to manage the team from afar once again.