Preview: Fulham v Manchester City

Here’s a preview of the Manchester City game. We have also had a chat with Kevin Parker, general secretary of their supporters’ club which can be found here.
....Incidentally, tomorrow is also the first day of sales for The Fulham Review, the book written by the guys behind Craven Cottage Newsround. We'll certainly be getting our copies.

Another match, another tough test. Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Manchester City will arrive at the Cottage tomorrow brimming with confidence as they are currently second in the Premiership on 12 points and only one point behind leaders Arsenal. This time last year they had four points and were lying just above the relegation zone in 17th spot. What a contrast.

How much of this is Sven’s doing is unclear. Is it his inspirational team talks? Is it having the rub of the green? Critics point out that they’ve won matches by the slenderest of margins and ridden their luck in others, but does that really matter? After all, you don’t extra points for scoring more goals. If we’d have shut up shop better when we were leading matches then we wouldn’t be languishing at the wrong end of the table now. A fact acknowledged here by Kamara.

You certainly can’t deny that the ice-cool Swede has the right credentials. His list of honours in club football includes winning a Serie A title with Lazio, along with the Super Cup and European Cup Winners; the Uefa Cup with IFK Gothenburg, three Portuguese titles with Benfica and the Swedish title during his time at Gothenburg.

I felt the criticism levelled at him during his time with England was unjustified – and his knockers are beginning to realise this now that we’ve been struggling to even qualify for next summer’s European Championships under McClaren. I truly believe he took us as far as the current England team could have gone. Forget talk about the dream generation, where we finished in those tournaments was an accurate reflection of our ranking in world football at the time: somewhere in the top eight.

So far Sven has led City to home wins over Derby County, Aston Villa, and most notably, Manchester United, as well as an away victory over West Ham on the opening weekend. The two defeats suffered, though, have both come on the road – at Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers - which gives us some cause for optimism.

They have scored five goals in the league, with Michael Johnson and Geovanni topping the list with two-a-piece and Rolando Bianchi pitching in with one. Bianchi, however, also got his name on the score sheet during City’s 2-1 home win over Bristol City in the League Cup, adding to Emile Mpenza’s opener.

In defence they have been very frugal with just two goals conceded. Only Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas and Blackburn’s Benni McCarthy have beaten the hugely talented Kasper Schmeichel – the offspring of the legendary Peter Schmeichel.

We certainly seem to have the most potent strike force of the two teams with nine goals scored so far – six at home and three away. Clint Dempsey has been the main wearer of the shooting boots with three, Alexey Smertin and David Healy have weighed in with two each, while Brian McBride and Joe Kamara have netted once.

Our defensive record, however, is pretty shameful. We’ve picked the ball out of the net eleven times already and, in this, we’ve fared worse at home then away with six conceded at the Cottage and five on the road. If we can at least keep a clean sheet (at some stage this season) then that would be progress made.

Looking at the statistics it’s also unclear whether or not we want history on our side as our record in the past two seasons against tomorrow’s visitors has been very mixed.

Last season City took all six points from our two encounters with both games ending in miserable 3-1 defeats. The away match at the City of Manchester Stadium in November saw the home side race into a three goal lead by half-time, thanks to Bernardo Corradi (2) and Joey Barton. Collins John replied for us.

The second match, in early April, had more far-reaching consequences for the under pressure Chris Coleman. Boca’s goal after Barton, Beasley and Vassell had already got onto the scoresheet wasn’t enough to stop the curtain coming down on Cookie’s reign. The next time the team appeared – at Reading – Lawrie Sanchez was in place.

Looking back further, the fixtures against City in the 2005/06 season were much more fruitful. Two great goals by Steed Malbranque – either side of a Lee Croft strike – were enough to secure us all three points at Craven Cottage in November, and prompted Cookie to say: “I was delighted for Steed Malbranque to get two goals because his attitude and performance were excellent”.

The return leg up at Manchester at the end of April saw us notching our first away win of the season although, in typical style, we made it hard work. Richard Dunne had put the home side ahead and we didn’t equalise until six minutes to go when Colins John slotted home from close range. With stoppage time left, Malbranque drilled home to give us a very rare three points on the road. The match was also memorable for Liam Rosenior’s unbelievable goal line clearance. Top stuff.

In summary, it’s going to be a big ask…If we manage to get all three points tomorrow that will be a fantastic achievement in my book. And if we lose? Not to worry, we’ve only got a trip down the road to Chelsea to look forward to in a week’s time!