Morning all.
Both clubs in Manchester dropped points yesterday, Utd were beaten at home by Nottingham Forest while City drew with Crystal Palace away from home. Liverpool’s game against Everton was postponed because of the weather. Four Premier League fixtures take place today including Totts v Chelsea and of course, Fulham v Arsenal. A win today would close the gap behind Liverpool to just four points.
Fulham away is a tough old fixture for many a club but, they’ve suffered a couple of hefty defeats at home during the last month or two. Aston Villa beat them 3-1 back in October but the real shock was Wolves battering them 4-1 just a couple of weeks ago. This month, they took a point off Totts in north London before beating Brighton at Craven Cottage in the week. Brighton were unlucky really though as a mistake from their goalkeeper gifted Fulham their opening goal and an own goal gave Fulham a 2-1 lead before Iwobi scored his second late in the game.
Under Silva, Fulham have gained a reputation for being a balanced team which is both disciplined and flexible in the way they play. They press high, they move around like ants, creating space for a pass or when out of possession, hassling the opposition. They’re strong defensively and quick on the break.
Last season, we managed to take just a point off Silva’s team which came at The Emirates. On New Year’s Eve, at Craven Cottage, despite Bukayo Saka scoring just four minutes into the game, we ended up losing 2-1. Jimenez scored Fulham’s equaliser before half-time before De Cordova-Reid took advantage of a corner we didn’t clear in the second half. It was one of those games when we bossed the possession stats but couldn’t convert more than one of our 13 shots. In fact only 3 were on target.
This defeat followed a loss against West Ham and a draw at Anfield. The festive season in 2023 wasn’t very kind to Arsenal.
Fulham made four permanent signings back in the summer, one of which was Arsenal fans favourite, Emile Smith-Rowe who has done well since moving across London. Reiss Nelson made the switch to Fulham too but on a loan deal. He’s ruled out for this one of course but in any case, he’s injured, as is their central defender Andersen. They had a couple of big departures though with Palhinha moving to Bayern Munich and Tosin Adarabioyo joining Chelsea for free.
Fulham are a very well-rounded side who will press us, pass neatly through the thirds, and look to attack whenever possible. After 14 rounds of league games, they have had one more shot than us, a stat which outlines how they are a side that wants to play on the front foot. Including corners, they have made more successful crosses than any other team, and in open play they also lead the way with 52.
Andreas Pereira whips excellent corners and wide free kicks into the box, while in general play it is left-back Antonee Robinson who supplies the best ammunition from wide areas. The USA international’s duel with Bukayo Saka is one to watch, as each will try to push the other back.
Smith Rowe is impressing in the No.10 role within their 4-2-3-1 shape. He has brought great quality on the ball, and breaks into the box as often as possible, scoring three Premier League goals.
If there is a weakness it is possibly that they lack natural defensive midfielders. In truth that hasn’t held them back, as their defensive stats remain strong. That said, the loss of key centre-back Andersen to injury is a blow.
As for Arsenal’s squad for today, Mikel Arteta was again cagey about who is or isn’t fit. Hopefully both Gabriel and Riccardo Calafiori will have recovered for this one. Not that Jakub Kiwior or Oleksandr Zinchenko put much of a foot wrong against Man Utd.
Mikel Arteta did say that he wants Arsenal to be the best at everything in the game:
We want to be the kings of everything. at set pieces, the best in the world, at high press, the best in the world, attacking open spaces, the best in the world. We want the best atmosphere in the stadium, and be the best at everything. We want to be the best at everything. we want to have the best academy, the best individual development for players, recruit the best players and have the best coaches. That’s the aim.
Love it, that’s just what fans need to hear from their manager as it’s what you and I want too. Arsenal to be the best in every department of the club both on and off the pitch. Whether or not he achieves it is unlikely because perfection means to never drop a point in any game or lose a tie in any competition but reaching such heights should always be the aim in sport. Settling for second best simply doesn’t appear to be in Mikel Arteta’s managerial DNA.
I bet he’s loved reading the comments about Arsenal being similar to Stoke City on set-pieces because it’s a compliment rather than ridicule. On set-pieces we are strong, very strong but that’s where the Stoke City comparison starts and ends.
There are a few headlines about how Arsenal are out for revenge after last seasons results and I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment. I hope we can go to Fulham today and start fast. Score early in the game and more than once. Be strong, disciplined and ruthless in front of goal.
Catch up in the comments.
come on Arsenal!
Indeed Jm…
The games against Fulham were so disappointing last season,only 1 point out of 6. So we really owe them.
Hopefully Gabriel will play,I don’t blame Arteta for being so cryptic with his injury updates – why should he help the opponent ?
The line up should be out soon,COYG
No sign of Calafiori, Gabriel or Zinchenko getting off the coach.(Charles Watts)
Arsenal XI: Raya, Partey, Saliba, Kiwior, Timber, Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice, Saka, Havertz, Trossard
Subs: Neto, Tierney, Heaven, Lewis-Skelly, Merino, Sterling, Jesus, Martinelli, Nwaneri
Strange not to start with Tierney at left back with Timber staying on the right…
Instead, Partey is right back. 🧐
Tierney is not ok?
And Lewis-Skelly?
And off we go……for a 7-0 win (I wish)
Good afternoon Rico and all.
If Saka intercepts a pass by ESR goes on a run and crosses only for Iwobi to head in his own net, would that be considered a goal made at Hale-End???
Afternoon Devil.
We have all the ball, they break and score.. 😡
and we go 1-0 down
I always liked Raul Jimenez ….
Plenty of time to get back in it.
Me too, often injured though isn’t he?
Very true,Odegaard goes down holding his ankle,looks to be OK now.
Well that was a load of poop….
Any fireworks left over from last month because we could do with few in a few places .
Jimenez was direct caught Kiwior on his inside and outpaced him
Well that was pretty meh
We need to up the tempo and be quicker because we are slow and one paced. We just had one shot on target, are dominant in all stats except our shooting which is wide off the mark.
We are not showing any urgency, just one chance on target created and sloppy for the goal we conceded. I hope that our players realise we are still in a title race?
Mind you the conditions aren’t helping, misplaced and over hit passes affecting any rhythm we try to build as the wind blows.
Had Saliba stepped out, Jimenez would have been offside..
Need a bit of pace on the pitch with either Martinelli or Sterling on. Merino for Jorginho too at some stage…
Saliba gets a goal from another (yep you guessed it) a corner.
Honours even.
COYG’s!!
now inject some pace
Meanwhile the Arsenal sexy Ladies are winning 2-0 against Villa.
Martinelli comes on for Trossard and suddenly we have a spring in our step which wasn’t visible in the first half.
Trossard should play in every match…..from the 60th minute onwards.
Jesus to score the winner?
Jesus comes on for Havertz. Enough time for him to grab a winner. If he manages to stay on his feet that is.
Or Merino will grab one as well
How on earth did Gabriel stray offside when he’s looking across the line. Plonker!
All the Last three Arsenal games officiated by Chris have ended up in a draw. Arsenal has 25% Away Win Record with Cris Kavanagh as the Referee after registering just 3 wins out of the possible 12.
Two points dropped once more. We did everything but score more goals.
Thought the ref did well really…
Exactly Rico, can somebody please explain to me how a professional footballer, that’s professional, cannot look across the line, from the bloody wing and not stay onside.
To me it’s just stupidity.
Going forward against a compact defence Partey offers nothing . Too many short back passes or inside allowing them to organise themselves . As usual we are two players short and one of them is a direct goalscorer .
It seems to me that Timber is better on the right side and makes the right side stronger in terms of attack because it gives depth that Patney doesn’t. So, I think pulling him to the left with option(s) on the bench is a mistake.
Is Tierney so bad he can’t do the left side?
Doesn’t Lewis-Squeely play both sides?
The fundamental issue, in my opinion, is that it was not possible to unbalance the right side favorably, in order to get the best of Saka-Odegard.
Taking into account the way he sent Rice off he seemed to have forgotten that stopping a restart is a yellow card .
The defender in the middle looks at Martinelli on the wing and steps up, that’s because the defender is switched on and Martinelli is ball watching.
Narrow margins, these games are decided on narrow margins and you need to be constantly switched on, all the teams hard work wasted because Martinelli was dawdling and not staying alert, he cost us 2 points and we might miss by those 2 points in May.
To me it’s inexcusable…
What a shite performance bar Rice and again wrong subs at the wrong time .Top 4 if we are lucky this year . Havertz is absolutely useless as is Jesus .Poor performance .
Not great.
I agree Timber is more effective at Right Back,and Partey in midfield,stating the obvious there. We have a problem at left Back,if Arteta doesn’t trust either of the 2 players on the bench,what are they there for. He probably does trust Tomiyasu(never fit) and Calafiori and Zinchenko (never fit for long) So yes a problem.
I will be hoping for a Spurs win later.
Tottenham vs Chelsea looks like it could be a very good game, very tetchy, the only downside is that they both can’t lose and Jamie Carragher is on commentary.
Exactly Kev, really sloppy..
If Tierney isn’t fit, why is he taking a spot on the bench I wonder.
As said before the game, surely a proper left back would have made more sense than dropping Partey back, especially as he’s having a really good season in midfield..
There has to be something lacking in our squad, needing a goal to keep us in the game Arteta takes off a striker,Havertz, an brings on Jesus a player who has a better chance of becoming Miss World than scoring a goal.
Spurs go all Spursy again, two nil up and now losing 3 – 4
Jesus is finished isn’t he, he needs a move to Saudi or the MLS..
He doesn’t even have a nuisance value on the pitch, ineffective and almost invisible. Rico.
I think that Arteta makes those substitutions because we have a huge game on Wednesday vs a very dangerous Monaco team, the same club we underestimated a few years ago and got knocked out of the CL by.
Thomas Partey needs to stay behind after training to do some intensive work on his heading this week because that’s successive matches that he’s missed open goals by his inability to head the ball properly.
Rico, I can only imagine that after weeks, nay months recovering from another one of those endless muscle strains that Arteta is reluctant to put Tierney in at the start because let’s be frank, the last time he played for us he was well below par if I recall. In fact I’d rather see Lewis Skelly get the gig in front of Kieran. Tierney might get a run out in the League Cup I reckon?
As for Jesus, he had 17 minutes to make an impression, 22 minutes with added time, I saw him get into a good scoring position in front of goal and inexplicably hesitate, did the wind affect the flight of the ball? Was it a lack of match sharpness? I don’t know but maybe, as with Thomas Partey, he needs a run of games to get up to speed?
I saw him do some good work when he controlled a really difficult ball on the edge of the pitch just inside the Fulham half and beat the two Fulham players penning him in but after that he was anonymous, but then I was ball watching like Martinelli so maybe he did some other stuff and I just missed it?
You know what, if that money grabbing dickhead Obi Martin had stayed I reckon Arteta would have used him by now.
Arteta would never admit it, nor would Guardiola for that matter as it goes, but I wonder if Mikel secretly feels that the league title is beyond this squad given its injuries and the lead Liverpool have and will gradually focus more on the cups because he needs to be winning something this season?
Well as other have said 2 points dropped but if Liverpool win then it will feel like 6 points dropped.
The only reason Tierney get named is in hope someone may put a bid in for him.
As Kelsey said, we could struggle to finish in the top 4, which will not be a good result. lets hope somethink changes,
Agreed Cicero.
Perhaps Kev but I’m always of the opinion that if a player is on the bench, he’s fit to start. But yes, MLS was another option.
Can’t see us not finishing in the top four. Top 2/3 I reckon. Howvever, a striker/goal scoring January and who knows..
Arsenal will finish 2nd or 3rd at worst.
Another one bites the dust! Dan Ashworth the Man. U sporting director is sacked just after just five months in the job, mind you he did oversee the signing of striker Joshua Zirkzee for £60 million which was more than the players release fee. Just nobody suggest he could replace Edu! 😉
🤣 Cicero.
New post up.