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BBC pundit and former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton has predicted a comfortable victory for Manchester City when they take on Fulham this weekend. The two teams will meet at the Etihad Stadium for a Premier League clash on Saturday, November 5.
City will enter this clash second in the league standings with 29 points from 12 matches, two behind leaders Arsenal. Fulham, meanwhile, have been one of the surprise packages of the season and are seventh with 19 points from 13 matches.
The Cottagers have punched well above their weight to start the season. However, Sutton believes Manchester City will be too much for them to handle, even with doubts lingering over Erling Haaland's availability.
He predicted a 3-0 win for Pep Guardiola's side and wrote in his column for the BBC:
"Fantasy Football has gone into meltdown since Erling Haaland got injured last week - he sat out last weekend's win over Leicester and the midweek victory over Seville, but will he or won't he be back here?"
Sutton added:
"Either way, I think City will win this one pretty comfortably. The only thing I wasn't sure about was whether Fulham would manage a consolation goal - I have got Ederson in goal in my Fantasy team so I am going to say no, they won't."
Manchester City will enter this game on the back of a 1-0 win away to Leicester City in their last Premier League match. They also beat Sevilla 3-1 in the UEFA Champions League with a slightly rotated side in midweek.
Fulham, meanwhile, played out a 0-0 draw with Everton in their most recent league fixture. Prior to that, they picked up a 3-2 win over Leeds United at Elland Road.
Manchester City have dominated Fulham in their head-to-head meetings
Manchester City have beaten Fulham in each of the two teams' last 12 meetings across all competitions.
The last time the Cottagers took points off City was back in 2011 when they drew 2-2 at Craven Cottage. We have to go two further years back for the last time Fulham beat the Citizens, emerging 3-1 victors in a Premier League clash.
The two teams notably met earlier this year in last season's FA Cup. Goals from Ilkay Gundogan and John Stones, as well as a brace from Riyad Mahrez, gave City a comfortable 4-1 win after Fabio Carvalho put Fulham ahead.
Their last Premier League meeting was during the 2020-21 season. Manchester City won 2-0 at the Etihad in December 2020 before picking up a 3-0 victory at Craven Cottage in March 2021.
