Fulham have lost their last eighteen games against Pep Guardiola’s team.
Marco Silva’s Fulham host Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City this Tuesday aiming to break a long winless streak against the Citizens, a drought that far exceeds the Portuguese manager’s reign at the London club. The Craven Cottage side have lost their last 18 matches against their rivals, who haven’t won since 2009.
“It’s going to be a very important game. They are a very difficult opponent, a top team. For the last eight, nine, ten years they have been the dominant team in the Premier League, only having one or two seasons without winning titles, but for most of those years they have always been competing for first place and have always been very, very, very strong. They have always done this with the same coach during that period, and he is a coach who speaks for himself, for everything he has done in football,” the Portuguese coach begins by contextualizing.
Despite everything, Marcos Silva envisions a morale-boosted and confident Fulham, after having achieved, for the first time this season, two consecutive victories, beating Tottenham (2-1), after already having beaten Sunderland (1-0).
“For me it’s clear, we’re going to have a very difficult game, but the two consecutive wins give us the confidence we need for this type of game. It’s true that we haven’t gotten a good result against City in a long time. But playing under the Cottage spotlight is always special, I repeat, against a very, very good team. We hope we can turn the game around in our favor tomorrow [Tuesday],” he continued.
The truth is that Marcos Silva has helped Fulham break some negative records in the Premier League, and the duel with City could also break a long drought. “In my speech to the players at the end of the match at Tottenham’s stadium, I immediately mentioned this to the players. I congratulated them on the three points, on the way we achieved our second consecutive victory, and for overcoming that bad feeling of not winning away from home,” he commented.
In the lead-up to the game against City, the coach also reminded the players of the long winless streak against Guardiola’s team. “My last words to them were about our recent history against City and how this represents an opportunity for us to change that situation and play to win,” he added.
Despite winning their last two games, Fulham remain in 15th place in the Premier League, just six points above the relegation zone. “Whenever we step onto the pitch to play a game, our objective is to win, and tomorrow night will be no different. We’re going all out a big challenge for us, a challenge we want to face, and we want to move in a direction that gives us the conditions to fight for and win the three points,” he emphasized.