Manchester City have the chance to return top of the table with a victory at Craven Cottage at 12:30 (UK) ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Manchester United.
Ruben Dias, Phil Foden and Ederson all returned for last week’s 5-1 win over Wolves, and after a rare midweek free of matches, Guardiola says he has a full squad to select from for the trip to London.
| 1 |
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Manchester City Man City | 38 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 96 | 34 | 62 | 91 | WWWWW | |
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Arsenal Arsenal | 38 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 91 | 29 | 62 | 89 | WWWWW | |
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Liverpool Liverpool | 38 | 24 | 10 | 4 | 86 | 41 | 45 | 82 | LDWDW |
“No, everything is fine,” he said in his prematch news conference.
“For many years we have had an incredible medical department with lots of physios doing lots of work. True, we are fortunate for the last season to have few injuries.”
It means Guardiola has the conundrum of who to pick for another tough game, with City needing to win our remaining three matches to be guaranteed the Premier League title.
Asked about his criteria of how he makes his selections, the boss said there were many things to consider.
“How we feel, how they train, how they behave, the opponent, tactics and many things,” he added.
“There is not a specific rule to decide.”
Victory would move us two points clear at the top ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Old Trafford but he said the priority is picking up the win rather than hoping United do their city rivals a favour.
“I’m a City fan,” he said. “Trying to beat Fulham, this is all I’m concerned about.”
Our game at Fulham is quickly followed by another difficult away to trip to London, and while our Champions League exit to Real Madrid on penalties gives us more time to prepare, Guardiola would rather have had less time and be in Europe.
“I would prefer to play in the semi-final of the Champions League,” he said.
“Unfortunately we could not be there, congratulations to the teams who are in the final.
“Bayern and PSG played really good too. You never know. We have to adapt to what we have and we have three days and we have to adapt.”
