Arsenal vs Fulham - 01/04/2025 - KO 19:45 GMT (or 18:45 if you’re Peter Hitchens)

It will have been 16 days since our last match (which is the longest gap between games that we’ve had since the season began on August 18th). Gabriel cleverly got himself booked meaning he missed Brazil getting thumped by Argentina last week. Calafiori is out but likely to be in contention for next week

Saka is reportedly scheduled to start, I cannot say how strongly I think this is not a good idea for a player that has been out since December 21st. Arteta has learnt seemingly nothing from breaking his favourite toy, load management in his view is for losers.

I’m not saying Saka shouldn’t play, I just think given the Premier league is done I don’t think it’s a good idea to put so much pressure on a player who clearly isn’t going to be match fit.


Anyway who I think we should put out

Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Rice, Odegaard, Nwaneri, Trossard, Merino, Martinelli



Who I think we will put out


Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Martinelli, Merino, Saka

Fancy us to win because Fulham are probably on a downer after their cup defeat.

2-0.

0-3 ESR hatter

Arteta talking about starting Saka is madness, if he does he's even more dumb than I thought, I just hope it's a bluff

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

Fancy us to win because Fulham are probably on a downer after their cup defeat.

2-0.

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Fulham always seem to raise their game against us, so I'm not expecting an easy ride.

I just hope whatever formation he puts out, Nwaneri plays, because we will need real goal threats against them as scoring early goals is the only thing that silences Fulham.

Feels like ages since we've played.

I hope we win, tbh.

So since Fulham were first promoted to the Premier League in 2001, we’ve played them 35 times

Of those 35 games we’ve won 23, drawn 8 and lost 4

All those 4 defeats have come at Craven Cottage (2006, 2008, 2012, 2023)


Our record at Highbury - 4 wins, 1 Draw

Our record at The Emirates - 7 wins, 5 draws


Our record at Craven Cottage - 10 wins, 2 draws, 4 defeats

Our record at Loftus Road (where Fulham played for two seasons whilst Craven Cottage was being renovated) 2 wins


Goals Scored 75

Goals conceded 28

Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Nwaneri, Martinelli, Merino
Subs: Neto, Tierney, Saka, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Trossard, Jorginho, Sterling, Gower

Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Diop, Andersen, Cuenca, Robinson, Berge, Lukic, Adama, Smith Rowe, Jimenez
Subs: Benda, Bassey, Reed, Muniz, Cairney, Iwobi, Pereira, Willian, Sessegnon

Saka. :bow:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mac76

0-3 ESR hatter

Arteta talking about starting Saka is madness, if he does he's even more dumb than I thought, I just hope it's a bluff

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Fortunately (as it’s one of few areas where I agree with you) it has turned out to be a bluff


Raya, Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, Lewis-Skelly, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Martinelli, Merino, Nwaneri


Not quite the starting XI I’d have gone with (but not terrible either) Trossard as we know tends to be better impact sub, and I’m hoping we don’t need Saka at all and that when he does come on, it’s just to give him game time so he can reacclamatise

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...

Saka. :bow:

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Glad to see him back

Even more Glad that he’s on the bench

I'm genuinely curious to see what happens if Willian comes on, he was suvh a waste of space when he was here but not sure how much of a grudge people hold

Gabriel injured. :doh:

Another hamstring. :haha:

Horrible blow for our chances against Real Madrid.

MERINO!!!

:bow:

He could save us millions :haha:

5live commentators are in mourning that has gone in. :lol:

Ah Eugene Levy scores again I see

Fucking shit about Gabriel, hopefully if he’s out for Real Madrid tie, we have White back and can shuffle Timber into centre back

Cody Rhodes' theme song playing before the second half!

Cuenca goes into Partey's leg an goes down like a bitch!

Odegaard gets his conversion over the bar

Saka's on... And he's scored :woohoo:

SAKA!!! :bow:

Timber had to go off. :rose:

Muniz misses a free header

Martinelli offside. 6 added minutes

2-1 Muniz, 94

2-1 Muniz.

2-1 FT. Saka matchwinner!

2-1 FT

Only 9 points now.
It's ON!

Bum drizzle of a game, hopefully things not too bad for Gabriel and Timber

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Bum drizzle of a game, hopefully things not too bad for Gabriel and Timber

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Bum drizzle implies a good time had by all, depending on your view

I thought Martinelli was fuckin brilliant btw. Finally seemed to be agressive, amd what a flick for Saka’s goal. Carry on GMr

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LDG

I thought Martinelli was fuckin brilliant btw. Finally seemed to be agressive, amd what a flick for Saka’s goal. Carry on GMr

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Yes, MotM for sure

Best I've seen him play for a long time long may it continue, and it doesn't look good for Gabby he's not the sort to go off if it wasn't serious he'd play on with one leg if he could (He did try last night)

Most league games now will be non-events but as long as we keep ticking over with some good performances then we should finish well.

Great to see Saka back and a really effective performance from Martinelli.

Don’t fancy us to win at Neverton this weekend though. 12:30 kick off up north with one eye on Real Madrid.

Glad for the win and so pleased to see Saka back.

Bit of a shame we conceded at the end, seems the defence thought the game was finished before it was (very annoying tbh) but we got the points.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

Don’t fancy us to win at Neverton this weekend though. 12:30 kick off up north with one eye on Real Madrid.

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Yes that game should (though I never trust Arteta to do the sensible thing) see us essentially field a B team (to the point where I would play Neto rather than Raya) which tries to pub a win or just get a point

I dunno, I don’t want us to finish lower than 2nd and Forest will be pushing hard to guarantee champions league football

And when I say I dunno I mean I dunno, I’m not unsympathetic, for some reason I assumed we were playing Real on the Wednesday not the Tuesday

I don’t really see any point in playing Neto who was bought simply to be used in the eventuality of Raya getting injured. But keeping Saka on the bench and maybe Rice and one or two others. My main concern would be playing Partey at right back as that’s always a guarantee of dropping points