The Untold Preview: Arsenal vs. Fulham « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
A great match in midweek versus Dortmund secured our Champions League qualification, and with it the opportunity to perhaps rest a few legs in the final group game. The Carling Cup game early next week is another such tie, but with City coming to the Emirates rotation is most likely to be on a “needs must” basis in order to keep a competitive team out.
Fulham at home is certainly a game that shouldn’t be troubling the Arsenal. Fulham are, historically, terrible on the road, I remember a few seasons back when their away form was absolutely diabolical and they could barely buy a point away from home. Naturally playing away is always slightly tougher, but such a significant discrepancy in home and away performances suggests something psychological built up amongst the Fulham players, with them perhaps expecting to lose before they even set foot on the pitch.
They have improved since those dark days. This year, a single win and two draws is hardly the most impressive of returns, but is however roughly in line with their home results. No more are they a three point banker when playing away from Craven Cottage, but mediocre league results on the whole suggest that they won’t the toughest of teams we face this year.
In terms of injuries, not too much has changed since the midweek game. Koscielny’s substitution was attributed to fatigue, so nothing to worry about there. Updates were provided on Gibbs and Jenkinson, though neither are available just yet. Diaby, of course, got a short run out in the midweek and it’s great to have the Frenchman back in the squad.
Szcznesy
Koscielny Mertesacker Vermaelen Santos
Song Arteta
Ramsey
Walcott Van Persie Gervinho
The above is the exact same team as played in midweek. Given the heated competition for 3rd and 4th slot (for now, that is where Arsenal should be aiming) I don’t think we can afford to rest players for Premier League games. We’ve got ourselves right back up there off the back of a tremendous run of performances and we have to keep that up and wait for Spurs to slip up. With the Carling Cup game coming up afterwards, I expect the likes of Santos, Koscielny, Song, Arteta and Van Persie to get a breather then.
To be fair, given the number of games played you could add the likes of Walcott and Gervinho to the list above. All could well do with a breather, but with the City game hardly likely to be a walk in the park, I think only players who either cannot afford to be risked or ones who have an excellent stand in (Gervinho out for Arshavin, for example) will be swapped.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I’m expecting a full strength Arsenal side, though ideally we’ll be cruising at half time and some key men can get a breather during the second half.
Gervinho has come in for some flak recently, which I think is ridiculous. Sure, he could’ve scored a goal in each of his last two games, but the Norwich keeper’s stop was outstanding on the 1v1, equally versus Dortmund recently. It’s not like he has been spurning clear cut chances (bar the attempted flick versus Norwich converted by Robin…) and his overall game is great. He takes men on, which is absolutely crucial to our game if opponents are sitting deep. He’ll settle in fine and be a crucial player for us in this and future seasons.
This Fulham game shouldn’t be a tough one, but as ever the side will need to be professional. Perhaps our job will be made a little harder if we rotate slightly, but even with a couple of squad players in I’d still be confident of winning this fairly comfortably. A 3-0 win would be excellent viewing for match of the day.