EPL Match Preview: Fulham vs Arsenal at Craven Cottage

Fulham v Arsenal – Premier League

After the humiliating defeat at the Emirates Stadium last weekend against Aston Villa, the Gunners travel to the Craven Cottage to face Fulham on Saturday.

Following an impressive performance in midweek against Fenerbahce, Arsenal will look forward to continuing their form from that game to register their first win in the Barclays Premier league this season.

Meanwhile, Fulham made a winning start to their campaign with a 1-0 victory over the Sunderland last week. Fulham attempted just one shot at goal (excluding blocked), but this shot from Pajtim Kasami decided the game.

Arsenal have not lost their opening two matches of a Premier League season since 1992/93.

In 2012/13, Arsenal did not win in the league until their third game, after drawing the first two 0-0 while Fulham have never won their opening two matches of a Premier League season.

The last time that they won their first two league games of a season was in 2000/01 in the Football League Division One.

In his press conference, Martin Jol, the Fulham manager said, “I think many teams know what to expect of Arsenal; they still win 80 per cent of their away games, they have a very good record away from home. So it’s about their qualities and we’ll try to restrict them and play our own game as well. Our intentions are to do that.”

Arsene Wenger told the official matchday program, “The season has started, but we couldn’t take off with points. This is a vital game because we must respond to the Villa defeat and recover very quickly. We play Wednesday night and Saturday morning this week. So it’s very important that we get the energy, the dynamism and the focus straight back.”

Injury News:

Fulham: Fernando Amorebieta and Maarten Stekelenburg will miss out on Saturday and Kieran Richardson is set to be out of action for 3-4 matches, while Alex Kacaniklic will return to the squad.
Arsenal: Apart from the long term absentees such as Mikel Arteta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Thomas Vermaelen and Abou Diaby, rest of the squad should be available.

Provisional Teams:

Fulham: Stockdale, Briggs, Riise, Hangeland, Riether, Hughes, Sidwell, Parker, Duff, Taarabt, Boateng, Karagounis, Kasami, Berbatov, Etheridge, Bent, Ruiz, Bent, Rodallega, Senderos, Kacaniklic.
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Gibbs, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky, Cazorla, Walcott, Giroud, Fabianski, Podolski, Monreal, Sanogo, Frimpong, Gnarby, Jenkinson.

Match Appointments:

Referee: Howard Webb.
Assistants: M Mullarkey, D Cann.
Fourth Official: M Oliver.

OPTA Stats:

Fulham have won just 3 of their previous 24 Premier League games against Arsenal, but all 3 of these victories have come at Craven Cottage.
Only against Manchester United (17) have Fulham lost more Premier League games than versus Arsenal (16).
Arsenal won the most points from London derbies in 2012/13 (19).
There have been 4 Red Cards given in the last 3 Premier League meetings between Fulham & Arsenal (2 each) at Craven Cottage.
Arsenal have been given more Red Cards in the Premier League since the start of 2012/13 than any other side (6).
Darren Bent has scored 6 goals in his last 8 Premier League games against Arsenal
Olivier Giroud has now scored 12 goals in the Premier League for Arsenal. However, just one of these has come away from home.