What a difference six weeks makes. Fulham’s prospects of survival have shifted drastically since the memorable win over Premier League champions, Liverpool…
An expected loss to champions elect, Manchester City was followed by three presentable opportunities to escape the bottom-three and apply pressure to an out of form Newcastle United. Those opportunities passed in a variety of disappointing ways, firstly an underwhelming defeat to Leeds United, a gut wrenching collapse against Aston Villa, and a devastating late blow from Wolverhampton Wanderers. All of this has combined to seemingly doom Fulham Football Club to a third successive Premier League relegation. But as is the way in football, one positive result could restore some level of optimism and this weekend that result will need to come at the expense of Arsenal.
It is fair to expect a reaction of sorts from The Whites this weekend, following the nosies coming from Motspur Park, but whether that reaction produces the results required to complete another great escape remains to be seen. Arsenal for their part appear to have all of their eggs in the Europa League basket and handily dispatched Slavia Prague with a first half onslaught that brought three goals in the space of six minutes. It allowed them to take their foot off the gas and coast through the second half without much concern. It was a performance that ensures The Cottagers will not be visiting a weary Gunners XI on Sunday afternoon.
Scott Parker has spent the campaign stating that his side do not focus on others, and it is all about taking care of their own business. Unfortunately that will no longer be enough to achieve the target of remaining among English football’s elite for another season, with Newcastle now holding a significant lead over Fulham in the table. What Parker will have an element of control over is his sides approach to the remaining six fixtures. A lack of goals has been a constant theme, and if a miracle is to happen it will require that theme to be flipped. For that to happen, you have to suspect there will need to be more urgency in the attacking third, earlier on in the coming matches. The time for safety-first, considered approach play may have passed before now, but it is almost certainly time to up the tempo after the trials and tribulations of the previous month and a half.
PREDICTION: ARSENAL 3-1 FULHAM
PREFFERRED LINE-UP: 5-3-2
HEAD TO HEAD
LEAGUE RECORD (OVERALL)
- GAMES PLAYED – 57
- FULHAM WINS – 8
- DRAWS – 10
- ARSENAL WINS – 39
- GOALS SCORED – 62
- GOALS CONCEDED – 127
LEAGUE RECORD (AWAY)
- GAMES PLAYED – 28
- FULHAM WINS – 0
- DRAWS – 5
- ARSENAL WINS – 23
- GOALS SCORED – 24
- GOALS CONCEDED – 71
BIGGEST WINS AT ARSENAL
- ARSENAL 5-1 FULHAM (1950/51)
- ARSENAL 4-0 FULHAM (2009/10)
- ARSENAL 4-1 FULHAM (2001/02, 2005/06, 2018/19)
- ARSENAL 3-0 FULHAM (1914/15, 1962/63)
LAST 5 GAMES
- FULHAM 0-3 ARSENAL
- ARSENAL 4-1 FULHAM
- FULHAM 1-5 ARSENAL
- ARSENAL 2-0 FULHAM
- FULHAM 1-3 ARSENAL
LEAGUE FORM
- ARSENAL – WLDWD
- FULHAM – LLLLW
BATTLE TO WATCH
ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE VS JOACHIM ANDERSEN
The Arsenal front man has been in very good form, scoring four goals over the past week, with braces against both Sheffield United and Slavia Prague. He also opened the scoring when the two sides met at Craven Cottage in the season opener. Fortunately for the Frenchman, that game took place before The Whites reinforced their rearguard, and the Danish centre-back will need to Marshall his back line as well as ever to avoid this game getting away from Fulham the way it did for The Gunners’ European foes in midweek. Scoring goals has been such a problem for Fulham this season that they simply can not afford to concede freely.
Andersen for his part has been instrumental in solidifying a porous defence, but even he has been part of a unit that has not been as resistant to opposition attacks in recent weeks. An in form Andersen is just as important to Fulham as scoring goals at this stage of the season. Of the clubs five league wins, three have been by a solitary goal and the other two were 2-0 wins. Clean sheets are still going to be needed to get the requisite points.
LAST TIME OUT
FULHAM 0-3 ARSENAL (12/09/20)
When the season started at Craven Cottage and back in September, Fulham fans would have feared the worst as it took Arsenal and Lacazette just eight minutes to open the scoring. They only needed half of that following half-time to double their lead, before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the game out of sight for Scott Parker’s men less that ten minutes later.
Since then The Cottagers have added heavily to their squad and brought in players to take the place of the promoted XI that took the field by The Thames in the curtain raiser. Unfortunately, that hasn’t led to a significant change in fortunes over the course of the season and survival remains the only concern.
Arsenal cut through Fulham for the third goal, but defensive errors and chaos contributed heavily to the strikes that established The Gunners lead. Fulham rarely threatened Bernd Leno’s goal and only managed two shots on target across the 90 minutes. It was a comfortable win for Sunday’s hosts, with proceedings wrapped up before the hour mark.
Of those who started in the reverse fixture, only Ivan Cavaleiro will be expected to play some part. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Bobby De Cordova-Reid all came off the bench that day, but will be expected feature prominently this Sunday meaning the starting XI could be entirely different this time around.
Arsenal’s fortunes have changed. After the season started positively, they have fallen down the table and are currently only competing for a top-half finish domestically. Their hopes of continental football next season rest on a successful Europa League campaign, and having navigated their quarter-final this week, focus will turn to a reunion with former manager Unai Emery in the coming weeks. No doubt Mikel Arteta will want to maintain form and the good feeling around the Emirates at least until then, and will see this as prime opportunity to continue his sides recent spell of positive results.
PLAYERS IN COMMON
JUNICHI INAMOTO
FULHAM APPEARANCES: 58
GOALS: 9
ARSENAL APPEARANCES: 4
Luis Boa Morte, Calum Chambers, Andy Cole, John Coleman, Bill Dodgin, Andrew Ducat, Thomas Eisfeld, Emmanuel Frimpong, John Graham, Julian Gray, Junichi Inamoto, John Lambert, Archibald Macaulay, Malcolm MacDonald, Peter Marinello, Brian McDermott, Ronnie Rooke, Rui Fonte, Ian Selley, Phillipe Senderos, Steve Sidwell, Peter Storey, Brian Talbot, Bobby Templeton, Moritz Volz, Malcolm Webster.