Predicted Starting Line-Up: Manchester City vs Fulham (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City return to Premier League action after a midweek trip to Bratislava, as they square off against a dangerous Fulham side before the latest international break.

It was back to winning ways in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night as a semi-rotated Manchester City side comfortably dispatched of Slovan Bratislava on matchday two of the competition thanks to first-half goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden.

The scoring wouldn’t stop there however, as second-half goals from Erling Haaland and James McAtee would round off the scoring on a completely dominant night for the Premier League champions in Slovakia.

While Pep Guardiola continues to deal with the absence of Rodri in the centre of his midfield, with the Spaniard facing the entire season out due to an ACL and meniscus injury, City fans saw a new-look midfield comprising of Ilkay Gundogan, Matheus Nunes, and Phil Foden.

However, the Manchester City boss is expected to revert back to type in a Premier League showdown with Fulham this weekend as points remain at a premium in the opening few months of the campaign.

Ahead of the final contest before the second international break of the new season, here is how we expect Manchester City to line-up against the challenge of Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Predicted XI

While Stefan Ortega Moreno took over duties in between the sticks during the week in Slovakia, Ederson will more than likely regain his starting spot in Manchester City’s system against the Cottagers this time around.

The form of Rico Lewis has simply been too good to ignore for Pep Guardiola thus far this season, and despite playing 90 minutes in Slovakia during the week, the youngster should hang on to his starting spot once more.

A true starting centre-back pairing is yet to be carved out in Manchester City’s rearguard this season, but given he was rested during the week, Ruben Dias should come back into the team alongside Manuel Akanji.

With Nathan Ake not expected to return from a muscle injury until after the upcoming international break, Josko Gvardiol remains Pep Guardiola’s sole option on the left defensive flank and will surely start again this weekend.

Now, here is where it gets interesting, and will likely to do so throughout the course of the season for obvious reasons…

After taking a seat during midweek action in Slovakia, Mateo Kovacic should jump back into the Manchester City starting line-up in Premier League action this weekend and become Rodri’s most natural replacement in the defensive midfield role.

We also expect Bernardo Silva to slot into Pep Guardiola’s midfield combination to provide some much-needed legs to support the Croatian international.

After playing two straight games, Ilkay Gundogan may be due a rest but Phil Foden should finally make his first Premier League start of the ongoing season to add the perfect combination of control and attacking thrust centrally.

The first few months of the campaign have slowly but surely started to reveal what Manchester City’s best wing-pairing is, and with all four natural wingers fit and available, we should see Jack Grealish on the left, with Savinho on the right of the front-three.

And finally, you guessed it – Erling Haaland will be in his usual home operating in the centre-forward role as he looks to get back among the goals after being blanked at Newcastle United last weekend.

Predicted XI: Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Bernardo, Foden; Savinho, Haaland, Grealish.

Substitutes: Ortega, Walker, Stones, Wright, O’Reilly, Nunes, Gundogan, McAtee, Doku.