Pep Guardiola has spoken of his admiration for Fulham boss Marco Silva ahead of City’s Premier League trip to Craven Cottage.

The reigning champions travel to the capital aiming to return to the division’s summit with three points during Saturday’s 12:30 (UK) kick-off. 

It represents the fourth time we will have faced the Portuguese coach’s side since he led them to promotion from the Championship in 2022. 

And Guardiola believes his counterpart has a strong track record in the competition during the latter’s spells with Hull City, Watford, Everton and Fulham. 

When asked about the job Silva has done at Craven Cottage in his pre-match press conference, the boss said: “Excellent. Not just this season. He was promoted with Fulham playing excellent football,” he declared. 

Fulham v City | Match preview

“Last season, really well. His patterns, defensive and offensive are really good. I admire him a lot. The job he has done, not just at Fulham. 

“At Watford [he did] really well, some problems at Everton but at Fulham his impact is there. 

“I’ve never met one player, manager or team who when they start a game they aren’t focused to play. Never ever in my life. I will not see it. 

“They play in front of their fans and they came to perform well and they will do everything to beat us and we will do everything to beat them.”

Watch Guardiola’s full pre-Fulham press conference in the video player above! 

Fulham v City app coverage

The Official Man City App allows you to follow all of the action at Craven Cottage all in one place.

Minute-by-minute text updates of the game will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, shortly followed by our Matchday Live show which will begin around 11:30 (UK) – as the team news comes in.

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The show will welcome special guests Kit Symons and Shaun Goater into the studio alongside host Cel Spellman.

They will provide City-centric insight before, during and after our penultimate away game of the 2023/24 season, as well as answering viewer questions throughout the broadcast. With audience participation actively encouraged, get in touch via WhatsApp: +447537186538.

During the game you can listen to blow-by-blow live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Andy Morrison while our text commentary continues.

For those who have push notifications turned on, you can be alerted to the key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and team news.

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Extended highlights from the match, as well as a full-match replay [available with a CITY+ subscription] will be accessible from midnight.