Arsenal vs. Fulham Preview – Team news and Prediction
After an emphatic win over Dortmund in the Champions League, the Gunners host Fulham at the Emirates in a match described by Wojciech Szczesny as ‘vital’, and rightfuly so. A win could see Arsene Wenger’s team back in the top four and few would bet against them to get the job done.
Fulham have never won away at Arsenal in their 132 year history and it’s been 8 years since they last won away in London. The West-London side will be relying heavily on their in-form strikers Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora who have three goals a piece so far this season. The latter in particular could really cause problems to a defense which still looks shaky.
As usual, the Gunners will look to their captain Robin van Persie for the goals, but in my opinion, this is the perfect game to rest him. He’s been playing too many games and we just cannot afford to gamble on his fitness. I think Marouane Chamakh should be given a chance to prove himself today. The Moroccan has been warning the bench all season long and I think it’s only fair that he gets his chance today. And even if he has a bad game, we can always bring Captain Vantastic on.
Team News:
Apart from long-term absentees Jack Wilshere, Bacary Sagna and Kieran Gibbs, Le Boss has a full squad to choose from. I think it will be pretty much the same team that beat Dortmund but you can expect Tomas Rosicky and Abou Diaby to have a run later on.
As for the Fulham, they have far too many injuries to be worried about. The Cottagers will be without veteran midfielder Damien Duff, full back Steven Kelly and former Chelsea man Steve Sidwell. Zamora and Johnson will be the two frontmen and are likely to be flanked by Clint Dempsey and Dixon Etuhu.
You can expect to see a very one-sided game with Arsenal dominating possession. We will definitely have our chances and hopefully we can take them. On the flipside, our shaky defense is sure to present Fulham a chance or two but I’m sure we can handle it.
Prediction:
Well, I successfully predicted the 2-1 scoreline against Dortmund so this time, I’m gonna get a little ambitious. I’m going for a 3-0 Arsenal win.
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Hi I have been an arsenal boy all my life & I can tell you that this season arsenal will just end up the same as we always do. We need players a good solid back line & sorry teams open us wide apart we need 2 midfielders & a great partner for rvp o and we need to pay the players a sum that will keep them here. I am no longer a season ticket holder coz I go to places like the posh
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Any Links for the game ?
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I have just post an excellent live stream for the match.
http://justarsenal.com/arsenal-v-fulham-live-streaming-one-to-bookmark/11630
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Annoying game. I think Arshavin killed the first half for us. And we still seem to struggle when teams defend against us. We needed Gervinho on the pitch from the get go.
Well, well. Two points dropped but not a catastrophy.
Let’s beat shitty on tuesday and put this all behind us!
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A truth needs to be said-Arteta is too slow and is passing only to defenders,he’s not bringing any speed or imagination to the game.This guy need to stay on the bench,along with Arshavin and Ramsey-dead hands….by comparisson,did u see Djourou?One of the best,I have no idea how he managed that,but….the middfield is the soft point of Arsenal,and the manager who is scarred of not losing games,commanding a slow tempo ,using 3(three) HM-Arteta,Song and Ramsey.Wenger is affraid of making changes to increase the offensive appetit of the team,or he’s making the changes too late.Get rid of Arteta ,he’s slowing the game ,Arsenal needs a creative middfielder who knows how to dribble and to go forward,creating spaces .
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good prediction mate
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arshavin killed our game ,,,,,,,, no attack from the left flank ,,,,,,,,, please get rid of this guy in january ,,,,,useless ,,,,,,,,,,,
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I’m sorry to say that today’s game was a typically historic Arsenal performance seen over 80 odd years by we old crumbling supporters, now becoming few in numbers. So often when a win is merely a predicted formality, we fail. And when a defeat is expected(e.g.Chelsea at home) we fight like tigers and win.
Luckily, these blips are not too frequent and we will recover, but we must be prepared for them and accept their inevitability from time to time.
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admin ur excitement got the better of your intellectual thinking,thats why u got it wrong.we know about the dortmund team more than fulham.sometimes we should have a good understanding of the opposition players abilities for a sensible prediction.still ur excitement is understandable owing to the teams form
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nick w spot on mate,fortunately for gunners these blips have gone down significantly.and ur right,for every 5 or 6 wins there will b an odd draw or loss for even a united or city.i get a feeling that citys defying the odds,as if they are accelerating in a bugatti veyron while others in a regular car. Lol
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The problem today wasn’t the quality, it was the lack of urgency. We started playing well after about 80 minutes.
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I always believed arshavin could change a game. now i believe its for the worst. arsenal are carrying him and chamakh. they both have no excuse to complain if they are not played as they have constantly added nothing. gervinho upped the tempo and if he was on scorin form it would have been a different score. well done tv5 for savin us. we cant keep relying on rvp
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only players who can hold there heads high after that performance are johan, robin, vermaelen and chezza… arteta, song and wally were extremely average! i believe our team is more balanced this season and we have a strong squad but we do need a faster better dribbling cam ie gotze/aimar/kaka Someone world class not average to good ie benayoun and arteta! please wenger just sign a couple top draw players in january and promote some of the younger players ox/ryo and frimpong and drop arshy/ marouane and even wally when underperforming!
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@jordan
ur the useles gunner dude!arteta is a good signing.we jst lack of the creativity on final third such as guy like juan matta,david silva.even manu hv the same problems.ramsey can do it bt he stil need a lot to improve,realyy mis jackwilshere.
Tv5 n rvp is a world class,why jst the rest ddnt show that?yes verminator does his mistakes,bt he repays that.the rest realy need to step up espcialy from the left wing,right wing and atacking midfielder.yes they’re good bt need scoring!! determination verminator!! manofthematch with rvp second for the gooners!
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Can’t believe that no one is mentioning walcott’s performance He was our best player yet again.
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Walcott was the player of the game. & Ramsey had a bad game due to fatigue. He needs a better partner than arteta. He doesn’t help him at all. He creates no space to pass to cos hes slow and has no movement. Once wilshere comes back you’ll see Ramsey improve even more.
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