Sincere apologies for the late matchday thread this afternoon – I had a bit of a family emergency. It does mean that we can bring you the team news.

Manchester City’s line-up is frightening but there is no Jack Grealish – so that’s probably a bonus considering how regularly he turns it on against the Whites.

? Your starting XI ?

XI | Ederson, Walker (C), Dias, Akanji, Ake, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Foden, Doku, Alvarez, Haaland

SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Phillips, Bernardo, Gomez, Gvardiol, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis#ManCity | @etihad pic.twitter.com/GLPMizkKNb

— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 2, 2023

The Fulham eleven sees three changes from the Emirates last Saturday. Unsurprisingly given yesterday’s shenanigans there’s no Joao Palhinha. Tom Cairney comes in for him and takes the captain’s armband. The Scottish international is partnered by Harrison Reed in the absence of the injured Sasa Lukic. Tim Ream returns to the heart of the defence in place of Calvin Bassey, who drops down to the bench. Bassey is joined amongst the substitutes by Willian, who we haven’t seen since the first half at Goodison Park on the first day of the season, new signing Timothy Castagne and young midfielders Tyrese Francois and Luke Harris as well as Adama Traore.

How we line-up at the Etihad! ?#MCIFUL pic.twitter.com/6KAUY62Rs2

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) September 2, 2023

The stats ahead of our tough test against the treble winners aren’t encouraging:

• Manchester City have won their last fifteen league fixtures against Fulham. One more victory will equal the English record, which they hold for fifteen wins in a row against Watford.
• Fulham haven’t won in twenty matches against this afternoon’s opponents – dating back to a 2009 win at the City of Manchester Stadium secured by a blistering strike from City midfielder Dickson Etuhu and a Clint Dempsey double.

We have some fond memories of winning in the blue half of Manchester under Roy Hodgson, however. That 2009 game was pretty special, with the Whites coming from behind to win 3-1, but the most incredible comeback of all was the one that launched the Great Escape. 2-0 down, going down and the introduction of Diomansy Kamara changed everything.

If you need something to read, why not check out:

• Dan’s preview of this afternoon’s action.
• All of yesterday’s deadline day drama.
• The Fulham Supporters’ Trust statement on the sad passing of Fulham chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed.

If you want to listen to something, we have three options:

• A celebratory Green Pole immediately after Palhinha’s big Bayern move fell through
• Alan spoke to the excellent 93:20 City podcast (from around 54 minutes)
• Russ Goldman’s great interview with Tony Gale on Cottage Talk

Don’t forget to leave your comments and predictions below as we tick closer to kick off