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Preview: Fulham v Arsenal

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Preview: Fulham v Arsenal

 

With four successive wins under our belt, we look to keep the feel-good factor going at Fulham on Sunday (2pm UK), as we aim to avenge our New Year’s Eve defeat on our last visit to Craven Cottage.

That was the only time in the last 12 meetings that the Cottagers have got one over us, and encouragingly they’ve never won consecutive league games against us in their history. However they come into the weekend sitting sixth in the table, thanks to a distinctively Arsenal flavour to their line-up.

Despite meeting some familiar faces, we’ll be hoping to return to winning ways at Fulham’s Thameside home, and put ourselves in as strong a position as possible ahead of another big week of European and domestic action.

Silva’s side up to sixth

Fulham celebrate scoring against Brighton

Fulham were one of just two sides to avoid defeat against us in the Premier League last season, and were bolstered by the summer arrivals of Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson. Spearheaded by the goals of Alex Iwobi this term, the Hale End-heavy Cottagers have been quietly impressive.

An opening day loss to Manchester United was followed by 11 points from their next five games to steer them into the top six, but after a winless October an extraordinary comeback saw Harry Wilson net twice late on to beat neighbours Brentford to put things back on a track.

After returning from the most recent international break, a shock 4-1 home defeat to Wolves was then followed by a 1-1 draw at Tottenham last weekend, before Brighton & Hove Albion were sent packing by Marco Silva’s men on Thursday night courtesy of a 3-1 defeat. That night saw Iwobi grab a brace, taking him to five for the campaign.

What the managers say

 

Mikel Arteta’s pre-Fulham press conference

Arteta: “It’s going to be a big challenge which we experienced last year when we lost five points against them. I have been very complimentary about them, the coach and what they do, so it’s always a really tough place to go.

“We just want to get better, and whatever we do, I repeat myself, is not good enough. We can still improve a lot in that sense. But last year, we were the team in the history of this club that scored the most goals. We want more, we have more margins, we can do things better. With the defence, exactly the same thing. With the environment, the same thing.”

presser

Marco Silva

Silva: “Probably [Arsenal] are going to be even more aware because the reality is we played two great games against them last season. But I really believe that it’s going to be even more difficult. Firstly, because with the game last night, it’s going to be a really short [turnaround], and because they are in a great moment.

“And they are going to be more aware about our strengths, and it’s going to be tougher for us. But we like this type of challenge. We have to embrace it, and to go with full confidence that we can repeat the same [as last season].”

Team news

Calafiori vs Forest 1

Gabriel and Riccardo Calafiori were forced to miss the midweek win over Manchester United through injury, and while Mikel Arteta was hopeful they would be fit in time for Sunday, the jury is still out as he continues to monitor them ahead of the game.

Our other injury victims are Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu who are still recovering from their knee issues. Gabriel Jesus is one yellow card away from a one-match ban.

Reiss Nelson is ineligible to face his parent club but may have been missing anyway after he tweaked a hamstring against Brighton, and Tom Cairney will serve the second of a three-match suspension following his sending-off at Spurs.

Sasa Lukic is available again after serving his ban on Thursday, but Harrison Reed has a knee injury that sees him sidelined and Joachim Anderson picked up a calf problem that has caused him to miss the last two matches.

Facts and stats

Gabriel vs West Ham United

We failed to win either Premier League meeting with Fulham last season – only between May 2011 and November 2012 (4) have we had a longer winless run against the Cottagers in our league history.

Fulham are unbeaten in their last eight league London derbies (W4 D4), their longest such run since a run of nine between February 2000 and September 2001.

We have won seven of our last eight Premier League London derbies since losing at Fulham on New Year’s Eve last year. We have scored 5+ goals in four of those eight games, as many times as we had in our previous 113 league London derby matches combined.

We have scored 5+ goals in five different away games in all competitions in 2024 – no English top-flight side has ever done so six times in a single calendar year (Sunderland in 1892 and Man City in 1937 also 5).

Marco Silva has won four of his 10 previous meetings with us across all competitions with each victory coming with a different team (Olympiakos, Watford, Everton, Fulham).

Bukayo Saka has been involved in 14 goals in his last 14 London derby matches in the Premier League (7 goals, 7 assists).

Smith Rowe or Iwobi could become the first players to score a home league goal against us having previously played for us in the competition since Cesc Fabregas in February 2017.

Gabriel could become the first centre-back to score in three successive appearances for us since William Gallas in August 2009.

Raheem Sterling could become the first Arsenal player to score on his birthday since Mesut Ozil against Swansea in October 2016.

Match officials

 

Chris Kavanagh

Chris Kavanagh referees us for the second time this season, following on from our 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion in August when he sent off Declan Rice, one of four players he has dismissed in the Premier League this term – two more than any other official.

That draw against the Seagulls extended our unbeaten run under his watch to seven games, stretching back to a 1-0 loss against Aston Villa in February 2021. However the last three have been draws, including his two appointments last term when we shared the points with Chelsea and Liverpool.

Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Assistants: Darren Cann, Simon Long
Fourth official: Andy Madley
VAR: John Brooks
Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton

Recent visits to the Cottage

 

First half blitz | Fulham 0-3 Arsenal | 2022/23

Last season saw Fulham beat us on the banks of the Thames for the first time in six attempts. Raul Jimenez cancelled out an early Bukayo Saka strike before Bobby DeCordova Reid clinched all three points to make it a New Year’s Eve to forget for all Gooners.

Before then we had won five on the spin at the Cottage, including in March 2023 when goals from Gabriel, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard saw us cruise to a 3-0 win, with Leandro Trossard grabbing a hat-trick of assists in the first 45 minutes – a Premier League record.

Our Brazilian defender was on the mark again in September 2020 when he netted on his Gunners debut to add to strikes from Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang which saw us run out 3-0 victors on the opening day, and in fact we have failed to score in just one of our 17 visits to Fulham in the Premier League.

Live coverage

 

Live From N5

Tune into Arsenal.com and the official app from just before kick-off to listen to live commentary of the game, provided by our usual team of Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke.

 

ARSENAL FC

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