Preview: Fulham (Home)

When Roy Hodgson took over as manager of Fulham following the disastrous eight-month tenure of former Northern Ireland boss, one-time Cup Final hero and Reggie Kray lookalikey Lawrie Sanchez as 2007 was creeping to a close, most saw it as something of a panic appointment. Strange in a way considering the man in question is one of England's most famous managerial exports, having bossed teams in seven other countries during a reasonably successful thirty-year coaching career.

Starting off at Swedish side Halmstads in the late seventies, Hodgson turned the unfashionable south-west outfit from regular strugglers to two-time champions, the first major honours in their history. Following an unsuccessful stint back home with Bristol City he returned to Sweden to guide Malmö to two further titles, aswell as two cups, after a stint at Örebro. Offered the Swiss national job in 1992 he oversaw qualifications to the World Cup of 1994 and Euro '96 before leaving for Italian giants Inter Milan. A trip to the UEFA Cup Final followed before a move to Blackburn.

In 2000 he was one of three names on a shortlist for the England job, losing out to Sven-Göran Eriksson. Instead he moved back to Scandinavia, to Danish club FC Copenhagen, winning the title in his first season. Unsuccessful stints at Udinese and as coach of the United Arab Emirates national side followed, before a credible year at both Viking in Norway and as Finland national manager. On joining the West-London side they were looking a good bet for relegation having amassed a paltry four wins and fifteen points from twenty games.

Apologies if this seems like a bit of a eulogy to the manager of another club but i think it's a terrific story, and the job he's done during his twenty-one months in charge is nothing short of phenomenal. Firstly, to drag the club from trouble during the final games of his first season, picking up twelve points from a possible final fifteen including three away victories, was quite extraordinary. What he's done since has arguably been even more impressive.

Not only did Fulham achieve European football last year, they also did it with style, and discipline. They were extremely well-organised, watertight at the back, passed the ball as well as any side in the division but are also well capable of battling when necessary. They were, even still sometimes are, a terrific side to watch, and the embodiment of their manager. I always found them quite a nice side to watch under Coleman, and obviously before with Keegan at the helm, but under Hodgson they're expansive yet well-drilled, and they're going to come and give us a game, i'm certain of that.

They are, to a certain extent, another one of our bogey sides, a couple of pretty sickening home last-gasp defeats spring to mind, aswell as last season's comfortable result for them coming on the back of our valiant UEFA Cup exit to Hamburg. We've won all of our six home games since then, however, and indeed that was the only blip on an otherwise perfect record at Eastlands since the humbling by Forest last January. They remain hit-and-miss on the road but could easily catch us out should we be below par.

By the sounds of it, though, they won't be taking the occasion all too seriously, understandably so, in my opinion. The Premier League will remain priority, even with the Europa League participation, we've seen too many sides struggle domestically when taking part in previous years. With the FA Cup to come later, too, this competition may simply be one too many. Clint Dempsey and Brede Hangelaand are carrying knocks and won't travel. Erik Nevland is also missing with an ankle injury. Hodgson has indicated his starting eleven will be closer to the one that earned a credible draw in Sofia last week, so Chris Baird, Stephen Kelly, Chris Smalling, Jonathan Greening and Bjorn-Helge Riise should keep their places.

As for us, i'd expect Hughes to stick with a pretty strong side. Emmanuel Adebayor will serve the second of his three-match suspension, Robinho and Roque Santa Cruz will miss out again, despite rumours of the latter making his debut. I expect Carlos Tevez might well be rested in lieu of his surprise ninety minutes on Sunday. Hopefully we'll see Pablo Zabaleta get a run-out after Micah Richards horrowshow at Old Trafford. You'd like to think we'd go as attacking as possible, but with no targetman fit i suspect a front three of Petrov, Bellamy and SWP will start ahead of an unchanged trio of Ireland, Barry and Nigel de Jong in midfield. Some sort of action for Vlad Weiss would be welcomed, too.

I think this game represents a decent chance for us to get back to normality in more ways than one. It will be nice to play a side where there shouldn't be much needle after two controversial fixtures. It should also prove a good opportunity for the defence to settle back down after a great start to the season, some of the comedy defending on show on Sunday really was unacceptable and we'll hope for a clean sheet against what should be largely their second-string. With Fulham not really in it to win it either we should be able to see them off and hopefully bag at least a couple of goals, though we'll by no means underestimate them.

The two home games coming up now should enable us to get back on track following our last result. Not playing until Monday after this one should also give us a bit of breathing space and given our two disappointing cup humblings last season it's probably fair to say this game could be seen as some sort of marker of progress, irrespective of the opposition playing their strongest side or not. Over previous years this is the sort of situation we'd have messed right up, an expectedly unproblematic tie, at home, would've once had us all concerned. No pissing about, please, Blues.

Possible teams:
City: Given, Zabaleta, Bridge, Toure, Lescott, de Jong, Barry, Ireland, SWP, Bellamy, Petrov

Fulham: Schwarzer, Baird, Paintsil, Smalling, Kelly, Etuhu, Gera, Greening, Davies, Kamara, Riise

Prediction: City 2 Fulham 0