Lightning Never Strikes Thrice

Manchester City's game against the Cottagers on Sunday will be a game that both sides will be confident of winning.

Courtesy of 5-1 A City Blog.

On a run of eight wins, two draws and only one controversial derby defeat since the start of the season, the blues will be confident of sweeping aside a slow starting Fulham, but Mark Hughes insists his side will give them their full respect.

'They have a good work ethic,' he added. 'They have guys who are disciplined and work hard to frustrate you and they also have quality at the other end as well, so it will be interesting to see what team they pick.'

'They made a lot of changes to their team when we played them in the Carling Cup but they were still a big challenge. We will not take them lightly by any means. We will have to be at the right level and make sure we get the job done.'

Having played and lost to two of the top Premier League sides in Villa and Chelsea already, Fulham will be fully aware that a confident and in form City could easily turn that statistic into three out of three.

Fulham are the ones in Europe, yet Blues players and fans will be quick to point out that Sundays after a European game can be like Monday morning after a best friend's wedding. The Roma game will certainly have taken something out of the Londoners. 

If we look at both sides there few if any Fulham players that would grace the Sky Blue first XI, so really there should be nothing to fear, should there?

City Squad
Given, Taylor, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Sylvinho, Garrido, De Jong, Barry, Johnson, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Ball, Weiss, Vidal, Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Petrov, Tevez, Adebayor, Kompany.

Fulham Squad
Schwarzer, Zuberbuhler, Konchesky, Pantsil, Hangeland, Baird, Smalling, Kelly, Hughes, Dempsey, Gera, Andranik, Duff, Riise, Greening, Etuhu, Davies, Kamara, E Johnson, Nevland, Seol, Zamora, Elm.

Reasons to fear? 

Roy Hodgson is a knowledgeable manager and knows how to win against City as Eastlands. In the last two seasons the likeable Englishman has pulled off shock wins stunning the Blues fans and Premier League alike.

Two seasons ago Fulham were under threat of relegation and came to City as definite underdogs. City proved that this was warranted by going two goals up by half time and Fulham were mathematically relegated. Then the unthinkable happened with the introduction of the much maligned Diomansy Kamara. The Senagalese international heralded the start of a fantastic comeback by striking twice as Fulham registered a 3-2 famous win.

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