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Manchester City are expected to name a similar XI on Saturday against Fulham to the one that began at St James’ Park last week.

Pep Guardiola opted to rotate in midweek as City breezed to a 4-0 win over Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League, with Ederson, Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva rested.

Guardiola is still trying to work out what his best midfield combination looks like without the injured Rodri, although games against Watford and Bratislava didn’t provide the most stern tests.

On the other hand, Newcastle United’s physical approach posed a real challenge last week. That will be the same for Fulham, who have picked up 11 points from their last five games - a tally only Liverpool and Chelsea can better.

Marco Silva even faced questions about his side’s chances of qualifying for Europe on the back of last week’s win over Nottingham Forest. The Cottagers also have just one injury concern ahead of the City game, and had a full week to prepare for Saturday’s trip to the Etihad.

However, Fulham have a terrible recent record against City and have lost their last 16 head-to-head meetings. Indeed, the last time the London club managed to earn a victory was in 2009 when Clint Dempsey and Dickson Etuhu were on target.

A win for City this weekend would see them regain top place if Liverpool slip up away to Crystal Palace, even if Guardiola’s most pressing concern is finding a new winning midfield cohort. With that in mind, here’s the XI we think the City boss will select on Saturday…