City host Fulham in FA Cup

It’s FA Cup action this weekend as Manchester City host Championship side Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. 

City continue their defence of the cup as they look certain to miss out on the Premier League trophy to high flying Liverpool. 

Pep Guardiola’s side come into the game on the back of an impressive 1-0 away win at Sheffield United courtesy of a Sergio Aguero goal on the back of a fantastic Kevin De Bruyne assist. City have struggled for consistency so far this season and this shows as they have only been able to win five games in a row once so far. However, they are unbeaten in their last seven in all competitions and with some key players coming back it looks that City are only getting stronger. 

Fulham have endured a good season after being relegated from the Premier League in the last campaign. They will be hoping to make the fixture against City a league tie next season as they currently sit in third place in the Championship, just three points off the automatic promotion places. 

The London based side were involved in a stalemate in their last game as they drew 0-0 away at Charlton which will be seen as a point gained for Scott Parker’s side. 

Manchester City breezed past League Two side Port Vale at the Etihad Stadium in the previous round to set up Sunday’s tie. They won 4-1 but were put under pressure after Tom Pope scored for Port Vale in the game to make it 1-1 after claiming on Twitter, he could net 40 goals a season playing against John Stones. Fulham have already come through Premier League opposition after beating Aston Villa 2-1 in the previous round. 

Man City are unbeaten in their last 14 competitive fixtures against Fulham and you have to go back to 2009 when Fulham last beat the Citizens. 

Man City will be without Leroy Sane who is still recovering from injury and John Stones and Benjamin Mendy are doubtful. Fulham will be without Maxime Le Marchand and top-scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic through injury. 

Players to watch: 

Rested in midweek, Sergio Agüero could feature here. He scored in the last FA Cup round and has eight goals from his last five competitive matches.

Another scorer from the last round, Anthony Knockaert has two goals from his last three competitive matches, both times opening the scoring.