Man City Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Fulham

Everything you need to know ahead of the Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon

All eyes will be on Leroy Sane when Manchester City host Fulham on Saturday.

Sane was dropped for City's most recent Premier League game amid concerns about his focus, but he was back in training this week following the birth of his first child, which forced him to leave the Germany squad early.

MAN CITY INJURIES

Raheem Sterling missed both England games with a back injury but is likely to be involved on Saturday.

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Danilo has returned to training following an ankle injury, though Kevin De Bruyne is still out with a knee injury and Claudio Bravo will not return until next year.

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MAN CITY SUSPENSIONS

Neither side have any suspensions.

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MAN CITY POTENTIAL STARTING LINE-UP

Pep Guardiola's line-up will be as difficult as ever to predict, given he seems to be experimenting with new approaches in every game. For City's first home game of the season he played a number of central players and kept his pacy wingers on the bench, whereas in the second home game he emptied the middle of the pitch and used something resembling a front four.

Sane has struggled for minutes so far this season partly because Benjamin Mendy has become a key part of the team on the left, meaning the winger in front of him has to cut inside - and that's not Sane's strong point.

The Germany winger has also had his head turned by off-field issues, although the birth of his son may provide some kind of resolution. Even so, with Mendy likely to retain his place, it is unlikely Sane will play on the same side, meaning it would be a right-sided role or the bench for the 22-year-old.

Riyad Mahrez has had a patchy start to life at City and was disappointing in the last game. Bernardo Silva looked impressive when introduced from the bench and could start on Saturday.

FULHAM TEAM NEWS

Tom Cairney is likely to miss out with the ankle injury he sustained in Fulham's win against Burnley at the end of August.

Influential centre-back Tim Ream is yet to start a game this season, while Neeskens Kebano (ankle) is definitely out and Floyd Ayite is doubtful.

OPTA MATCH FACTS

Manchester City are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League encounters with Fulham (W7 D3 L0), winning each of the last five in a row.
Manchester City have never won six consecutive Premier League games versus a single London team, also winning five in a row against Crystal Palace.
Fulham have only won four of their previous 26 Premier League games against the reigning champions (W4 D4 L18), and none of the last nine (W0 D2 L7).
Manchester City haven’t lost a Premier League home game against a newly promoted team since losing 0-2 versus Reading in February 2007. The Citizens have won 29 and drawn four since that defeat in 2007.

Manchester City have lost just two of their 40 Premier League games at the Etihad under Pep Guardiola (W29 D9 L2), with both defeats coming against fellow ‘big six’ sides (Chelsea in 2016 & Man Utd in 2018).
Pep Guardiola (2.35) has the best points per game ratio of any manager in Premier League history (min. 5 games).
There have been 16 goals scored in the four Premier League matches involving Fulham this season (7 scored, 9 conceded) – the joint-highest total in the division alongside Arsenal.

TV COVERAGE & KICK-OFF TIME

Kick off is 15:00 GMT (10:00 ET) on Saturday. The game will not be shown live in the United Kingdom. It will be shown on NBC in the United States, and on various channels around the world.