It’s been a positive couple of weeks for Manchester City after a topsy-turvy season so far.
A 1-0 win over Olympiacos in the UEFA Champions League confirmed City’s passage into the knockout stages of the competition. They followed that up with a 5-0 win of Burnley which scored City their biggest win of the season in which Riyad Mahrez netted his first Man City hat-trick as well as Ferran Torres scoring his long awaited first Premier League goal.
With City’s injury problems well and truly under the carpet (well, apart from Aguero), we may start to see some consistency from Pep Guardiola’s side.
A player for City who has stepped up in the midst of injuries has been academy graduate Phil Foden.
The 20-year-old has been ever-present in City’s season so far, appearing in 13 appearances in all competitions, scoring four goals.
If the England international features against Fulham on Saturday, it’ll be his 50th appearance for the club and Guardiola had kind words to say about Foden and what he expects from him in the future.
“We are more than delighted to have him for the academy, the message he can give. If you have the skills and especially passion. I love his passion, the only thing in his mind is to be a better player for himself, his club, his national country.
“He is a dream come true for managers. Normally when you become older, he loses it, but the first thing he is looking for in training is the ball to play with his mates. The first achievement is 50 games, he will play much much more in the future.
“Hopefully he can have the passion to improve but knowing him it will happen.”
While City are overwhelming to grab the victory today, Fulham are coming a mightily impressive win away to Leicester City.
The West London club are out of the relegation zone in 17th place and have some momentum in their tanks after last week’s win which was just their second victory in the league.
Not only could it be a special landmark for Phil Foden but also his manager as Saturday’s game will be Guardiola’s 700th in management and the Spaniard spared some words on his achievement.
“700 games. I will do 700 more then retire. I never expected it. It’s so good to have 700 games with a few defeats in these games, for all the players and staff we had in Barca B, first team, Bayern and here. It’s a great number, with all the people we made incredible things together and hopefully we can do more in the future.”
I think City ease to a comfortable 3-0 win.
Odds on a City win open at -1000. Odds on a second consecutive away win for Fulham open at +1800. Odds on a draw between the two sides open at +1000.
