Premier League preview: Fulham v Manchester City

City celebrate against Arsenal

All is not well at the home of the champions, and Fulham could be about to experience the backlash.

Manchester City have conceded 16 goals in their eight matches in all competitions, and when you are conceding an average of two goals a game then earning victories is going to prove tough.

They’ve only got two of those in the Premier League so far this season, against newly promoted Southampton and struggling QPR, and following a midweek Capital One Cup defeat at the hands of Aston Villa there have been calls for Roberto Mancini to shift back to the approach which saw City win the league last season and move away from his selection of a back three this time around.

It was at Fulham that City dropped the first points of their title-winning campaign last September, as the home side came from two goals down to earn a point. Mancini and goalkeeper Joe Hart are determined not to let the same thing happen again.

“We go in there with confidence, we’re the champions and we need to play like champions,” said City and England’s No. 1 ahead of the trip to Craven Cottage.

“It’s going to be hard, it was hard last year - they took the first points of the season off us last season. The year before that we played really well and beat them comfortably though, so I think we need a little bit more of that.”

Hart’s words will resonate with his team-mates who could find themselves seven points off the pace at the top of the table come kick-off depending on the result between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium.

Fulham actually start the game above City due to their superior goal difference, but as ever boss Martin Jol will be keeping calm and not letting his players get carried away.

The addition of Dimitar Berbatov has given the West Londoners a whole new dimension, but the Bulgarian is injured here and that will only encourage the visitors more.

Micah Richards and Jack Rodwell are out but Samir Nasri is fit to return for City, and it could just be that the addition of the Frenchman sparks his side into action.

They may concede goals again, but City will be determined to run out winners on the banks of the Thames and should do, to perhaps breathe some life into a season which has started limply.

Saturday afternoon also sees Norwich face Liverpool at Carrow Road, where the two teams are separated by the thin line that denotes the relegation zone on paper but by an awful lot of quality on the pitch.

Norwich have only scored twice in the league all season, and if they can keep it tight at the back then expect Liverpool to finally hand Brendan Rodgers a long overdue first league win as Reds manager – particularly if two-goal midweek cup hero Nuri Şahin can continue his goalscoring form in the absence of the suspended Jonjo Shelvey.

Alan Pardew’s first match into his new eight-year Newcastle United contract sees him back at a club he left nine years ago, and Reading will be hoping to build on their midweek cup win at QPR by recording a first win back in the Premier League. They and Newcastle might have to settle for a draw though.

Elsewhere, Everton will be expecting to take the three points as they welcome Southampton to Goodison Park, Michael Laudrup gets his first taste of life at Stoke where the locals will hope to beat his Swansea side, and the league’s draw specialists Sunderland might have to settle for another share of the spoils when Wigan come to the Stadium of Light.

Mark Jones – follow me on twitter

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