Since Manchester City were taken over by Sheikh Mansour, one of football’s wealthiest owners, we are used to seeing them dominate the domestic scene with some of the world’s best players.
Pep Guardiola’s side head to Craven Cottage this weekend as heavy favourites to beat Fulham, but ahead of the game we’re turning back time to April 2009, the last time the Citizens lost a game against the Cottagers.
Fresh from defeat away at German side Hamburg in the first leg of their UEFA Cup (now Europa League) quarter-final tie, Mark Hughes’ City side returned to England to take on a resilient Fulham side managed by none other than Roy Hodgson.
Towards the end of their first season under the Mansour regime, City’s star man Robinho was left on the bench. The team was plagued with injuries, so they lined up as follows at Eastlands on a sunny Sunday afternoon:
Manchester City: Given, Richards, Dunne, Onuoha, Garrido, Zabaleta, Ireland, De Jong, K.Etuhu, Bojinov, Petrov.
Meanwhile, Hodgson’s side included the brother of Kelvin and former City man Dickson Etuhu and a strike partnership of Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Davies, Murphy, D.Etuhu, Dempsey, Johnson, Zamora.
League game 32 of the season for both sides, Stephen Ireland’s deflected shot into the top corner of the goal on 28 minutes put City ahead at half-time.
The midfielder picked up the ball in his own half and drove at the Fulham defence before unleashing his shot close to the edge of their box.
From there onwards a Citizens collapse ensued and, for the second season running, Fulham would leave Eastlands with three points.
The Whites – playing in a tidy red and black halved away shirt – began their comeback through Dempsey just five minutes after the restart.
A stray pass from a young Pablo Zabaleta allowed Dempsey to level up the game with a close-range side-footed shot past Shay Given.
Just ten minutes later, the visitors were in front via a wonder strike from Dickson Etuhu against his former side.
Playing against his brother for the first time in the Premier League, Etuhu picked up the ball on the right wing and cut inside to unleash a ferocious effort past Given, who had no chance of saving it.
Hughes sent on Robinho for the hosts along with Ched Evans and Daniel Sturridge to try and find a way back into the game, with the Brazilian missing a guilt-edged chance to tie up the scores soon after entering the field.
Seven minutes before the end, the game was put to bed as Dempsey grabbed his second of the game and Fulham’s third. Zamora rode the challenge of Richard Dunne close to the halfway line and ran at goal before slotting in Dempsey, who poked the ball through Given’s legs and into the back of the net.
Hodgson’s side picked up three points away from home for the second game running in the Premier League, having defeated Bolton Wanderers in their last outing from London by the same scoreline, a game which was actually Fulham’s first away win of the entire season.
They finished in seventh place, qualifying for the UEFA Cup in the process and ultimately reaching the final the season after, only to be cruelly defeated in extra-time by Atletico Madrid. Following this, Hodgson left the club to become the manager of Liverpool.
Meanwhile, City endured a horrific end to the season. They finished 10th in the Premier League, albeit just three points behind Fulham, and crashed out of the UEFA Cup to Hamburg despite winning their second leg against the Germans.
Mark Hughes left the club in December 2009 to be replaced by Roberto Mancini, and we all know that the Italian managed to bring Premier League success to City just under three years later.
We’re now almost 12 years on from the last time Fulham beat Manchester City, and the two sides have met a further 16 times after this in all competitions.
City have dominated ever since with 13 wins out of 16, including an extra-time Carling Cup victory later on in 2009, still under Hughes’ stewardship.
The Cityzens are a maximum of 17 points away from a fifth Premier League title in 10 seasons, and Fulham are fighting for survival, having been promoted from the Championship via a play-off final victory over Brentford last season.
Although Guardiola’s City side will head to Craven Cottage as huge favourites this weekend, never say never in football.
Fulham v City takes place at 8:00 pm on Saturday – March 13.
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