Premier League Preview - Fulham vs Arsenal 24.8.13

Wednesday’s performance was exactly what the doctor ordered after Saturday’s humiliating defeat to Villa. I always did fancy us against Fenerbahce, I felt it was the perfect place for the players to express themselves and redeem the weekend defeat. Hopefully the squad will be high in spirits and confidence going into the early kick off on Saturday at Fulham.

Fulham started their season off well with a 1-0 victory away at Sunderland. Martin Jol would’ve been pleased with his team’s performance defensively, especially with keeping a clean sheet, something they only achieved on 8 occasions last season, shipping the 60 goals in total.

Fulham have added to their squad in a quiet manner this summer with no real stand out acquisitions, the most high profile probably being the loan signing of Darren Bent from Villa in recent days. After Mark Schwarzer’s move to Chelsea, Fulham added Dutch international keeper Maarten Stekelenberg from Roma (£4.7m) however Maarten picked up an injury in the win at Sunderland and is expected to miss 2 weeks so therefore will be side-lined for the clash on Saturday. Another recognisable name to everyone will be the addition of England midfielder Scott Parker from the scum (£2m), decent piece of business there. Fulham have also added Venezuelan defender Fernando Amorebieta (free) from Bilbao. Amorebieta was heavily linked to Arsenal at the back of last season. Other transfers include permanent signing of Riether (£1.2m) and Ghanaian midfielder Derek Boateng (free).

Last season Fulham replied upon the goal scoring threat of Berbatov to secure them wins, but this season with the addition of Darren Bent they should have a formidable partnership up top. Martin Jol’s teams tend to be decent on the eye, last season proving to be fantastic one week and extremely poor the next. Jol will be hoping for a bit more consistency this season as Fulham aim to build on their 12^th placed finish last term.

Last season an epic 3-3 draw at the Emirates was undoubtedly one of the best games of the season for the neutral. Arsenal took an early 2-0 lead through Giroud and Podolski but poor pieces of defending let Fulham back into the game, with brace from Berbatov  and a Kacaniklic header put Fulham 3-2 up, before Giroud’s equaliser 20 minutes before time. Arsenal pushed for a winner and Arteta missed a 95^th minute penalty, as Schwarzer denied us 3 points.

The game at Craven Cottage last season was a little less dramatic with a single Per Mertesacker goal enough to take the spoils as Arsenal continued their impressive end of season march to take 4^th place. Despite there not being 6 goals, the game did not go completely without drama as Fulham were forced to play 80 minutes of the game with 10 men after Sidwell got sent off. Giroud was also sent off in the last minute as Arsenal just about hung on.

Last 5 meetings

Fulham 0-1 Arsenal

Arsenal 3-3 Fulham

Fulham 2-1 Arsenal

Arsenal 1-1 Fulham

Fulham 2-2 Arsenal

The last time Fulham managed to beat Arsenal was in 11/12 where two late goals from Zamora and Sidwell secured all 3 points for Fulham after Djourou got sent off. In total Fulham and Arsenal have played 48 times, Fulham just winning 7 of those encounters. In the last 10 Arsenal have won 4, Fulham have won 2, with the 4 draws.

Luckily for Arsenal the only real damage from Wednesday night’s game against Fenerbahce was that to Laurent Koscielny, however since he is suspended from his sending off last weekend he was unavailable anyway. Jack Wilshere reportedly also a doubt and could well be rested for this Saturday. If Flamini is signed in time (12pm deadline) then he would make the squad.

Possible starting XI

Szczesny, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Sagna, Gibbs, Ramsey, Rosicky, Cazorla, Podolski, Giroud, Walcott

Sagna and Mertesacker did pretty well on Wednesday night after Koscielny went off injured and Fulham could arguably be a greater test. Berbatov and Bent will be a handful, whilst Duff will most likely provide the test for Jenkinson down the right hand side. Expect Parker to make his debut, so Ramsey and whoever partners him in the middle will have to be tenacious and energetic to get the better of him. Overall the team should be good enough to beat Fulham, they will be confident after their impressive midweek display. The key will be containing Berbatov, if we can do that we will win comfortably.

Lewbob’s prediction

Fulham 1-2 Arsenal

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