Manchester City v Fulham - Head to Head

Manchester City host Fulham on Saturday knowing three points will once again see them replace Arsenal at the top of the Premier League for 24 hours at least.

The blues hit top spot last weekend with a 1-0 win at Leicester, only for Arsenal to thump Nottingham Forest 5-0 to take it straight back. With the Gunners facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, it could be an opportunity for the blues to go into the World Cup at the top of the Premier League, providing results next weekend also go our way.

Victory for Fulham, coupled with an Arsenal win, will see the Cottagers move above their west London rivals, so there’s plenty at stake for both teams this weekend. It all depends on what happens on the pitch, but what do the stats say about this fixture? Let’s take a look and, if you’re a Fulham fan, you might want to go and look at fluffy bunnies on YouTube.

Dominant City looking to extend record

The blues have been pretty dominant in this fixture for the last 13 years. From 11 matches played, City have won nine and drawn two, but that’s not the worst of it for Fulham. Seven of the last eight matches between the two in Manchester have ended without a Fulham goal. Only a Fabio Carvalho goal last February in the FA Cup prevented that statistic from being eight from eight. City have also won the last eight matches and haven’t lost at home to Fulham since April 2009, when the Cottagers won 3-1.

The blues home record against Fulham is so good that they have only lost 6 matches in Manchester throughout their entire history. That’s six defeats from 37 matches in all competitions while winning 24.

Blues banging in the goals

City aren’t just dominant with victories but also when it comes to goalscoring. In the Premier League era, City have scored 49 times at home to Fulham, compared to the Cottager’s 16. The last time Fulham scored two at City was October 2009 when a crazy ten minutes saw four goals scored in a 2-2 draw. Joleon Lescott and Martin Petrov scored with two minutes of each other, but eight minutes later, Fulham were level through Damien Duff and Clint Dempsey.

City have scored three goals in this fixture nine times, four goals on six occasions and five goals twice. Only once have City scored three goals and lost.Fulham have scored two or more goals on nine visits, so the stats don’t look good for them.

Overall, City have scored 91 goals and conceded 38. The blues have kept 15 clean sheets while Fulham have prevented City from scoring on just two occasions, both of those matches ending in a goalless draw.

City have scored in 16 consecutive home matches against Fulham, beating their previous record of 15 from February 1908 to September 1983.

City streaking ahead

City’s current run of 11 matches unbeaten is the blues longest run of matches without loss at home to the Cottagers, as is their run of eight consecutive wins. During this period, City have scored 29 goals to Fulham’s five.

The visitors longest unbeaten run is three matches, when they drew two and won one between March 2004 and April 2006. A goalless draw was followed by a 1-1 stalemate and a 2-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium, Fulham’s first win at City since 1984. Fulham also achieved back-to-back wins at City for the first and only time when they beat City 3-2 in April 2008 and 3-1 a year later.

For the superstitious

No head-to-head stats are complete without an attempt to scare the superstitious among you, and today is no different.

Sadly, this fixture is extremely boring. The two have only met twice in Manchester, with City winning both. The first time was in the Premier League in 2006 when City won 3-1 and the second being in November 2018, when the blues put Fulham out of the League Cup with a 2-0 win.