Arsenal make the short trip across London to take on Fulham (Arsenal South) as the Premier League returns to action following the October international break. By way of a quick refresher: the Gunners sit atop the Premier League table, a point ahead of Liverpool, who a month ago were five points clear. Three matches — that’s all it took for Arsenal to erase the deficit and claim the top spot. It’s a reminder of how fast things can change.
After a difficult opening stretch of matches, Arsenal are hitting
a run of “easier” fixtures in the league (the match next weekend against Crystal Palace is much trickier than it looked at the start of the season, mind you). In a few weeks, the Gunners have Chelsea-Bayern-Tottenham over a seven-day stretch. It’s vital they stack up the wins in the next few games before that difficult stretch.
That starts today against Fulham, a club that has tormented the Gunners in recent years. Before Arsenal’s 2-1 win last spring at the Emirates, they’d drawn, lost, and drawn Fulham, to the great detriment of their title campaigns in those seasons. Marco Silva’s side is off to a middling, likely disappointing start (to them) to the season. The Cottagers sit in 14th place with a 2-2-3 record. Their wins have come over Leeds and Brentford, both of whom are below them in the table. They’ve trailed in six of seven Premier League matches this season and have only kept one clean sheet in their last 16 PL matches. They’ve struggled to score goals — no player has more than one. I don’t think I need to point out that struggling to score goals and generously conceding them ain’t a good combo.
Arsenal will be without Martin Ødegaard, who sprained his MCL against West Ham and will miss 6-8 weeks. He’ll return sometime after the November international break. Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke are progressing well in their respective recoveries from knee problems. The German is ahead of schedule and may be back soon. Madueke is scheduled to start running shortly, an important step towards his return. Gabriel Jesus isn’t expected back until mid-December at the earliest. Piero Hincapie is fit and available. Ben White missed Arsenal’s recent open training session with an undisclosed injury.
Fulham will be without Rodrigo Muniz and Kenny Tete. Antonee Robinson, Sasa Lukic, and Raul Jimenez all face late fitness tests to determine their availability.
WHO: Arsenal at Fulham
WHERE: Craven Cottage
WHEN: Saturday, October 18th, 9:30 am PT | 12:30 pm ET | 5:30 pm BST
HOW TO WATCH: USA Network. Streaming on Peacock.
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