Adrian Mills’ best bets for Saturday’s game at Craven Cottage include a win for Man City, an anytime goalscorer and a player to be carded.
Fulham welcome Manchester City to Craven Cottage on Saturday (12.30pm kick-off) for a Premier League clash where the stakes for the two could not be more different.
The Cottagers are comfortably mid-table in 13th with even a top-10 finish seemingly beyond them at this point. City, meanwhile, are in the midst of a gruelling battle with Arsenal to retain their Premier League crown and land a fourth consecutive title.
The Citizens have dominated this fixture for a long time now and should land a win that would see them leapfrog the Gunners into first.
Best bets
Manchester City to win and both teams to score @ 17/10
Julian Alvarez to score @ Evs
Calvin Bassey to be booked @ 7/2
Cottagers could crack City in defeat
Finding value in one of the most one-sided fixtures in England can prove difficult – City are unbeaten in the last 21 meetings between the pair, winning 18 in that run including each of the last 15 clashes – but backing Fulham to net in a seemingly inevitable defeat could prove profitable.
After losing seven consecutive games to nil against the Citizens, Fulham have now scored in each of their last four meetings with Pep Guardiola’s side, who have looked vulnerable at the back all season.
City have conceded to the likes of Luton, Burnley and Brentford this term and given the Cottagers have scored 12 goals in their last six home games, putting three past Spurs and Bournemouth and netting against Liverpool in that run, they rate a solid bet to score on Saturday.
The visitors have won their last six league matches by an aggregate score of 24-5, so the points heading back to Manchester seems a formality, but with one eye on Tuesday’s crucial match against Spurs, they could slip up at the back at least once.
Alvarez aiming for more goals
Erling Haaland netted four in City’s 5-1 thrashing of Wolves last weekend and will likely lead the line at Craven Cottage, meaning Julian Alvarez may have to settle for the bench or a deeper role in the capital.
However, the Argentinian forward still rates a good bet to net at Fulham. He scored City’s fifth in last weekend’s rout, highlighting his ability as a deputy to the Norwegian superstar, and has a good record against the Cottagers.
Alvarez has scored in each of his three appearances against Fulham and regardless of whether he starts or not, he should have a big impact on Saturday.
Bassey bound for trouble against the champions
Haaland’s return from fitness and immediate rediscovery of his scoring form is great news for Manchester City, but not so much for Fulham’s defenders.
Issa Diop and Calvin Bassey are likely to be the pair of centre-backs tasked with keeping the Norwegian powerhouse quiet and the latter may have some issues in doing so.
Bassey was booked in the reverse fixture and has been cautioned five times in the Premier League this term, in just 27 appearances.
Notably, he was sent off against Arsenal earlier in the campaign, struggling to cope with the pace of their attackers throughout that clash.
Haaland could pose some real issues for the NIgerian, as could the runs of Kevin De Bruyne from deep or Jeremy Doku’s mazey dribbles from the right wing, so take Bassey to receive his sixth yellow card of the season on Saturday.
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