Arsenal – Fulham Preview

Arsenal continue their decent into the relegation zone after another disastrous Champions League match where they once again showed their defensive frailties and lack of mental strength and character, and facing the stalwart Fulham FC will offer no let up to the North London crisis situation. One has to seriously consider how Arsenal will keep hold of their entire squad, that is, Robin van Persie.

Yea, scratch all that because Arsenal have been quietly rolling along for the past two months, having not lost since October 2, 2011 against Tottenham, recording eight wins and one draw. While Arsenal fans have been largely warming up to this much more pragmatic Arsenal side than the exhilarating side of past seasons, there are still people who are not convinced. The Guardian Football Weekly Extra podcast presenters were all unanimous that Arsenal have flattered to deceive on their current run of form, while busy making excuses for the Manchester sides lack of form in Europe. When you go back and read the match report of the Sp*rs loss and how negative it was on the squad, and then compare it to optimistic but still slightly cautious match reports of Arsenal’s wins against Norwich and Dortmund recently you can really see the progress and turnaround that has been occurring right in front of our eyes. It has been pleasant to see, and a nice change from the seemingly year long turmoil the club seemed to be in prior to this run. One cannot help but wonder how much better this season could have been if Wenger had done his transfer business before the season started and not after a thrashing to United, but I digress…

November has traditionally been an extremely rough month for Arsenal, but we have done extremely well this time around with 3 wins and 1 draw and two more matches to go. Part of this has to do with an improving squad, but it also has to do with an easier schedule in November than last year. An 2 week international break and two less matches in the month have eased the burden of our November blues.

Fulham comes to the Emirates and offers Arsenal a good opportunity to extend their solid form as they have struggled this season going 2W-5D-5L and currently sit 16th in the table, tied on points with Sunderland and Wolves. Last season Arsenal recorded a 2-1 win at home to Fulham, and drew the away fixture on the final day of the season in a meaningless match which was played as such. Fulham is still a good defensive team as they have always been, only allowing 15 goals in 12 matches which is 6th best in the league. Fulham are 13th in goals for with 14 which sounds decent, until you realize they scored 6 of those 14 when they pasted QPR 6-0 back on October 6 and have only managed two goals in their five matches since. They have failed to score in three of their last four Premier League away games, but have also kept three clean sheets in those four matches. Martin Jol has been their manager this year and has attempted to make Fulham a more attacking club from the days of Roy Hodgson and Mark Hughes, and while it’s not come off in the Premier League to date, they Fulham has had an impressive run in the Europa League with seven wins in 12 matches while scoring 22 goals. Fulham seem to have struggled in balancing playing in two competitions at the same time, but having no match midweek, they should be rested and ready go to.

Martin Jol has mostly run his Fulham side out in a standard 4-4-2. The ageless wonder Danny Murphy is still the engine room, running the midfield for the Cottagers, and with Steve Sidwell an injury doubt, will likely be paired with Dickson Etuhu. Their two wide men are Damien Duff who is creative but has not had a great start to the season, and American Clint Dempsey. Dempsey is Fulham’s best player who can play most attacking positions, and will look to cut inside from the flanks. Their two strikers will likely be Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson who are limited players, but play very specific roles. Zamora is the traditional target man, while Johnson is quick and not much else. Their big summer signing was striker Bryan Ruiz, but he has been poor all season, featuring in eight matches but managing only one paltry goal. Fulham strength lies in their compact defending, which is lead by their big Norwegian Brede Hangeland who is superb in the air. Fullback Zdenek Grygera suffered ACL damage and is out for six months so Chris Baird will likely slide over from centre-back to right back, which will allow Aaron Hughes to partner Hangeland in the middle. Former Liverpool and Roma left-back John Arne Riise will play left back, with former Arsenal target Mark Schwarzer in goal.

Simon Davies is injured and will not feature for Fulham, and they have former Arsenal favorite (It’s not just me, right?) Philippe Senderos on the bench.  Fulham have a ton of experience in the EPL, having a squad with 1873 appearance to Arsenal’s 781, but they are an aging side with the club’s average age at 29.5 years old, to Arsenal’s 25.5 years, and their younger players such as Pajtim Kasami and Orlando Sa have done nothing to aid them to this point. They have been London club’s beating stick for some time now having only won three of their last 45 Premier League London derbies away from home, and none of their last 24 since they beat Tottenham way back in 2003. Against Arsenal they have only managed 12 goals in 20 matches against Arsenal and have never won an away match in any competition to Arsenal, having lost 22 of their 25 attempts. By all accounts Arsenal should win this match, which in the past is when Arsenal fans worried the most. Hopefully this season is different in that regard.

Arsenal team news is the same as Dortmund. Wenger revealed Jenkinson is is at least three weeks away and Gibbs is four weeks off still. Any worries over Koscielny were waved away, saying he was subbed due to fatigue and not injury against Dortmund. Bacary Sagna and Jack Wilshere are the long term injuries and aside from regular knocks, there are no more injuries which is an odd situational for Arsenal as at this time last year Martin and Sairax were writing obituaries for our players. (not really)

There has been talk of possible squad rotation to avoid fatigue. That talk has some definite merit but it also scares me in thinking that we are taking a ‘lesser’ team lightly again. The Carling Cup next week against Manchester City and whether or not Wenger wants to field a strong line up for that match will greatly impact the decisions for Saturday. Personally, I feel that winning league games and ensuring Champions League qualification for next year is of up-most importance, while the Carling Cup is more of a distraction and only fun if you’re in the final at Wembley. I’d field our strongest line up possible, provided players are not in the ‘red zone.’

Szczesny

Koscielny     Mertesacker    Vermaelen     Santos

Song

Arteta     Ramsey

Walcott      van Persie     Gervinho

Subs: Flaps, Djourou, Frimpong, Benayoun, Diaby, Arshavin, Chamakh

Wenger suggested we could see Arshavin tomorrow, so I am very likely incorrect about the line up, but such is life. We need the three points more than we need to advance in the Carling Cup, and we better not take Fulham lightly. I’m in an optimistic mood, and I’m predicting a solid 2-0 win for The Arsenal.

Yea, he left for money, but seriously… great goals.

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• Norwich – Arsenal Preview, Plus Some Team Notes

Category: Arsenal News