Manchester City have won their last five matches across all competitions, netting 16 goals across these games which are numbers to suggest that Guardiola has found an effective formula for this crop of players.

It should be noted that City’s most recent defeat was when Guardiola last heavily rotated the side which was their Champions League clash against Leverkusen. However, Brentford also have an important assignment at the weekend with a trip to Wolves - so it may also be a rotated side from the Bees here.

That defeat against Leverkusen was only City’s second loss at home across all competitions this season, the other defeat coming right at the start of the campaign against Tottenham. Brentford come into this clash having won just one of their last five matches (v Burnley) with Keith Andrews’ side being particularly poor on the road so far with seven defeats from their eight away trips.

It’s hard to see how Brentford can improve on that record here having only scored six goals across their eight away matches in the Premier League this season. Only Wolves (2) and Sunderland (4) have scored fewer goals than Brentford on the road in the Premier League this term.

Newcastle’s run of seven consecutive games seeing BTTS was brought to an end by their rivals at the weekend, as Sunderland claimed a 1-0 win in the Tyne-Wear derby thanks to an own goal by Nick Woltemade.

Newcastle were poor in that game, with Eddie Howe getting the important decisions wrong and leaving the Magpies without enough of a threat in the final third. They need to get back to winning ways quickly here as the Geordie crowd can be unforgiving after such an emotional defeat.

Fulham have seen BTTS in each of their last four matches coming into this clash, most recently running out 3-2 winners against Burnley at Turf Moor. Marco Silva seems to have allowed his side to take on more risk in recent weeks, with the likes of Samuel Chukweze and Kevin starting to have an impact for the Cottagers.

Fulham will be aware of the issues that Newcastle are facing when it comes to clean sheets, with just one across their last 10 matches in all competitions (v Athletic Club). This is really alarming for a side that usually rely on having a secure backline, and something that Fulham can look to expose with Marco Silva’s side seeing an increase in goals across recent weeks. 

Each of the last three head-to-head meetings between the sides have seen BTTS, with the most recent clash taking place at the end of October and producing a combined xG of 3.67 (2.14-1.53).