Fulham vs Arsenal. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats, and more
Fulham FC will host Arsenal FC in the English Premier League 20th round match at the Craven Cottage Stadium. The fixture will take place on Sunday, December 31, beginning at 19:30 IST.
Parimatch News will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.
Fulham News & Current Form:
The current season is not as successful for the Cottagers as the previous one. In 19 matches in the EPL, the team won only six matches and drew three times and are now in 13th place in the league standings. Most of the points were gained in meetings with the clubs located at the bottom of the league table.
In the last three rounds in the English championship Fulham lost to Newcastle United FC (0:3), the penultimate place club Burnley FC (0:2) and AFC Bournemouth (0:3). Not a single goal scored and eight conceded does not say anything good about the boys of Marco Silva.
One of the reasons for the defeats is the absence of Mexican striker Raul Jimenez, who was disqualified for a flagrant foul for several matches. He was the center of most of the Cottagers’ attacks and was excellent at clinging on to balls. His replacement Brazilian Rodrigo Muñiz is only a pale shadow of the striker. In addition, the injury to Willian has dramatically weakened the attack, plus the defense has also become much more feeble.
Goalie of Fulham FC Bernd Leno made 74 saved since the beginning of the season
However, at the beginning of the month they played very impressively – 3:4 with Liverpool FC, even though the opponent snatched a willful victory in the last minutes of the game, then twice in a row demolished Nottingham Forest FC and West Ham with the same score of 5:0.
This season, the team is sorely lacking in reliability and quality in defense. Despite the efforts of Bernd Leno, the club have conceded 34 goals in 19 meetings in the championship. If not for the 31-year-old goalkeeper, the statistics would be much worse. During this period of time, he made as many as 74 saves.
At the same time, the boys from London are thriving in the Carabao Cup. They defeated Tottenham Hotspur FC (1:1, 5:3 on penalties), Norwich City FC (2:1), Ipswich Town FC (3:1) and Everton FC (1:1, on penalties 7:6). Very soon Silva’s wards will face Liverpool in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Interestingly, the Gunners have been performing better with the Cottagers away than at home in recent seasons. Since Fulham’s return to the EPL in the 2018/2019 season, Arsenal have defeated them three times (since then there has been a relegation to the Championship for one more season) away, and in four home matches have drawn twice, including this August, and won one willful 2:1 victory. In the summer of 2023, Arsenal were also close to a 2:1 win, but conceded a second goal in the 87th minute after a penalty.
Arsenal News & Current Form:
The Gunners, who have recently climbed to the top of the EPL, have stumbled too often in recent rounds. First, the Londoners lost to Aston Villa FC (1:0), who had also beaten Manchester City in the same week.
Then they managed to beat Brighton and Hove Albion FC (2:0), but then there was a draw with Liverpool (1:1) and a defeat against West Ham United FC. It is worth noting that the failure in the last round happened at the Emirates home stadium, hosts had a huge advantage in the match, made more than 30 strikes on the opponent’s goal, but still managed to lose with a score of 0:2.
This defeat dropped Mikel Arteta’s team to second place in the league table. Liverpool are now the leaders, ahead by two points. Also do not forget about the group of pursuers in the face of Aston Villa and Manchester City, Tottenham, who are just waiting to oust the former leader.
One of the decisive episodes of that match was a controversial goal conceded in the 13th minute. On the replays it is not clear whether the ball completely crossed the goal line or part of it remained in the field, as well as whether the head referee Michael Oliver made the right decision regarding the goal.
One way or another, Oleksandr Zinchenko was again one of the main anti-heroes of the match. After a pass from the opponent, he and Gabriel Magalhães failed to properly clear the ball, which led to a goal. Earlier, the Ukrainian was extremely unsuccessful in a meeting with the wards of Jurgen Klopp. And this is not the first time he let the team down.
Alex Zinchenko is the antihero of the 2 last Arsenal matches
However, in the game with the Hammers Arteta’s boys could not win mostly because of poor realization. They took 29 shots, eight of which went in the box, but failed to score. In general, Londoners rarely have problems with completion, in 19 rounds in the EPL they scored 36 goals (7th place in the league, Manchester City scored 45 and is in 1st place on this indicator).
In general, Arsenal’s game has faded a lot lately, there is no lightness, confidence and luck, which very often accompanied in several matches, when the team did not deserve three points, but still took them.
Also affects the lack of a productive striker, after all, Gabriel Jesus is not the most scoring footballer, and his replacement Eddie Nketiah clearly does not pull on the role of a leading forward in a top team.
Among the losses in the squad we should note the absence of defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, midfielders Thomas Partey and Fabio Viera, they will not take the field today due to injuries.
Fulham form guide: W-W-L-W-L-L
Arsenal form guide: W-L-D-W-D-L
Fulham vs Arsenal Head-To-Head Record:
| Fulham | Draw | Arsenal |
| 8 | 12 | 42 |
- April 18, 2021: Arsenal 1 – 1 Fulham (Premier League);
- August 27, 2022: Arsenal 2 – 1 Fulham (Premier League);
- March 12, 2023: Fulham 0 – 3 Arsenal (Premier League);
- August 26, 2023: Arsenal 2 – 2 Fulham (Premier League).
Fulham vs Arsenal Predicted XI:
Fulham’s possible starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, Adarabioyo, Bassey, Robinson; Palhinha, Reed; Decordova-Reid, Pereira, Iwobi; Jimenez.
Arsenal’s possible starting lineup (4-3-3): Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Rice, Havertz; Saka, Jesus, Trossard.
Statistical preview of the match Fulham vs Arsenal:
- Fulham’s First XI average age is 28.1 years, Arsenal’s First XI average age is 25.2 years.
- The total value of Fulham’s squad is 314 mln euros, while the total of Arsenal is 1.11 bln euros.
- Peter Bankes has been appointed as the center referee. The referee has already served 11 games this season, showing an average of 5.18 Yellow Cards and also whistles 21 fouls per game.
- At least one team has failed to score in Fulham’s last five EPL games.
- Three or more goals have been scored in 7 of Fulham’s last 8 league games.
- In 4 previous home games in the EPL, Fulham have scored 3 wins (there was also one defeat).
- In 4 previous games in the Premier League, Arsenal have only one win (1 draw and 2 defeats).
- No more than two goals have been scored in the Gunners’ last 4 games in the Championship.
- Arsenal have not won in the previous two away games in the EPL (1 draw and 1 defeat).
What has been said before the match:
Head coach of the Gunners Mikel Arteta about winning and what they can change:
“It’s no panic, it’s about trying to do more, do better and win games. If the team plays like this, they are going to win lots of games.”
“If we don’t improve in the boxes, then we can’t win the league. Because at the end that’s what it is, but generating the rest, yeah you say it’s a record for touches in the box, no? So I don’t think there are many teams in the league that have done that for many years, so that’s something very positive I think.”
“Without a spark you don’t generate what the team generates against West Ham, it’s impossible. But it’s the final thing, the final touch, the final action that puts the ball in the net or not, and that’s what we need.”
“We can be second as well, and winning we can be first so we have to do what we can control. There’s no time to look at other teams, you see how difficult it was for other teams yesterday and today and it’s going to continue to be like that because the level of the league is incredible.”
Marco Silva, gaffer of the Cottagers, ahead of the upcoming game:
“Arsenal are a really strong side, some weaknesses they have we’ll try to explore. We have shown this season already that we can match them.”
“Before the West Ham result it was just us and Tottenham to take points from Arsenal at home, which shows that we know how to match them and play against them and we know what to do. For sure we have to play at our best level because we can then compete with Arsenal.”
Fulham vs Arsenal Prediction:
Arsenal are heading into another derby not in their best shape: in the last four Premier League rounds, the Londoners have picked up only four points, due to which they lost their lead in the standings. Now, Mikel Arteta’s lads will face Fulham, needing to take all three points. The Cottagers have had enough playing problems lately as well, losing three games in a row. In such tough times, self-doubt settles in the minds of players, and if not shaken off, it can lead to some abject performances.
In ten previous head-to-head encounters, the Red and Whites have claimed eight wins and two draws, meaning Arsenal should have enough confidence and insights to get the best of themselves in all areas of the field. At the same time, the confrontation between Fulham and Arsenal in recent times is recognized by a very substantial goal activity. In nine previous face-to-face battles, the London teams have scored 32 goals (3.56 per game on average) – a figure that is particularly high even by the standards of English football. Naturally, the Gunners were especially bright at this stretch with 25 goals to their name (2.78 per game on average). In the upcoming rivalry, we expect Arsenal to win. Mikel Arteta’s wards have definitely done the homework after such a depressing 0:2 upset against West Ham (xG: 2.73 to 1.52). Returning Kai Havertz will help his team to convert the chances at the increased succession. And such a cold shower will help the Gunners to get in their senses to perform at the required level.
Parimatch News staff prediction:
We say: Arsenal will win and the match total will be more than 1.5 goals – Yes.
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