While his Fulham team-mate, Joao Palhinha, has a more established reputation as a midfield enforcer for the Cottagers, Serbian anchorman Sasa Lukic has been just as combative a presence for his team and the 27-year-old has been committing 2.70 fouls per 90 to Palhinha’s 1.80 this season.

Lukic gave away two free kicks in Fulham’s last Premier League fixture against Brentford and the former Torino man has committed at least two fouls in four of his last five top-flight appearances overall. Lukic has also been averaging 2.70 tackles per 90 for Fulham and he should be called upon to stick his boot in with just as much gusto against possession-hungry City on Saturday.

Erling Haaland has been back to his clinical best in recent weeks and the dynamic centre-forward, who is favourite to land the Golden Boot this term, managed to find the net in each of Manchester City’s last four Premier League fixtures. The 23-year-old clocked a combined ten shots on target across that quarter of productive outings and he showcased his devastating accuracy again on Saturday.

Haaland has scored in each of his last three appearances against Fulham and in last season’s corresponding clash with the Cottagers in London, the former Dortmund starlet found the target with two of his four efforts. Haaland has been hitting 2.20 shots on target per 90 in the Premier League this term and he should be confident enough to maintain that average here.

Andreas Pereira, who has seven Premier League assists this season, is better known for his creative skillset, though the Brazilian knows how to mix it without the ball too and the 28-year-old has collected six yellow cards in England’s top tier since August. Pereira has also fouled at least once in five of his last eight starts for Fulham and the South American could be in the thick of the action again this weekend.

As a Manchester United academy graduate, Pereira is likely to play with a bit more aggression against City, just as he did when the sides met back in September. Pereira was shown a yellow card when Fulham were beaten 5-1 by City eight months ago and the attacking midfielder has credentials in the cards market again on Saturday.

Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz has been one of the breakout stars of the 2023/24 Premier League campaign and the explosive 23-year-old has been ruffling feathers in the division since establishing himself as a first team regular in February. Muniz has scored nine times in his last 14 league appearances and few defences have been able to keep a lid on him for 90 minutes.

Muniz averaged an incredible 4.21 shots per outing across that same 14-match run and the Brazilian managed to get at least one shot on target in all but one of the same games. Muniz landed accurate efforts against Liverpool, Man Utd, Tottenham and Newcastle among others during that productive spell and he wields enough self-belief to get at least one shot on target against City on Saturday.

Croatian Josko Gvardiol hasn’t always looked completely comfortable during his maiden campaign with Manchester City, though the defender has been growing in confidence in the season’s latter stages and deployed primarily as a left back, the 22-year-old has been marauding forward to join the attack with more regularity.

Gvardiol, who scored three goals in April, managed to get a shot away in 11 of his last 15 appearances in all competitions for City and the ex-RB Leipzig defender aimed a shot on target in four of his last six starts. Gvardiol should have opportunities to tip-toe forward again on Saturday and he could have chances to showcase his improved shooting skills again.

Erling Haaland has been in razor-sharp form in the Premier League in recent weeks and the 23-year-old’s haul of seven goals in four matches in the division has put him in pole position to win the Golden Boot for the second year running. Last weekend, Haaland plundered four goals in one sitting against Wolves and opened the scoring in City’s 5-1 win over Wanderers after just 12 minutes.

That was the 8th time this season that Haaland broke the deadlock for the title favourites, and last term the prolific frontman opened the scoring nine times in the Premier League. Indeed, Haaland gave his team the lead when City last visited Craven Cottage to play Fulham a little under a year ago and with his current form this red hot, the Norwegian looks like a solid first goalscorer candidate again on his return to the Cottage.