Match Preview: Arsenal v Fulham: EPL Match Day 12

Here’s a question post Dortmund – has Arsenal finally learned how to win a game through utilitarian work rate rather than always trying to pass it into the net at every chance? Well, we get another chance to find out as the Gunners face off against Fulham in a bid to win their 6th straight Premier League tie.

Fulham come into the Emirates sitting 2 points above the relegation zone. They haven’t beat a London opponent since 2003 and they come to a place, the Emirates they have yet to win at all. In fact in the last 25 away attempts against Arsenal for Fulham they have lost 22 times and drawn 3. Still, I would be a liar if I said those kind of stats didn’t worry me slightly, if only for the reason, something has to give.

Of course a win by Fulham would probably go down on the shock level of the Blackburn loss earlier this season. Especially given the current form Arsenal find themselves in.

After a start to a season that saw players leave and new players come in, red cards galore, a ton of goals and mass confusion, Arsenal have made watching the Gunners fun again. Where this team will end up is anyone’s guess but for right now everything for Arsenal is clicking right.

For the players it seems this is the squad they knew they had all along. Fans on the other hand had their doubts. I am one of them.

“We started very badly and it is not easy when you have new players coming in,” he said. “You need to give them time and we see that we are not like three or four months ago. We have very good cohesion. I think that is very important.

“When we started we lost two big players and it was not easy to have players like Cesc [Fabregas] and [Samir] Nasri missing. They were very important but in football it happens all the time. You need to forget about it and give confidence to the players you have got.”

So said Alex Song, Arsenal’s current “it” player. And he is right. As the team has settled every week they seem to be playing with more and more confidence. I personally see that in the form of how we play when we have leads. Now I don’t know about you but at 2-1 or 1-0 I still bite my nails. Past experiences are hard to let go of. But watch this team play with a lead and while there are moments – a minute or two of sustained pressure here or there – there isn’t the wide spread panic that has come from Arsenal teams in the past.

The team seems resolute and confident. They are collected and they working as a complete unit. Everyone is defending and working to get the ball and start the counter. You only need to see how far back Gervinho and Walcott get to defend to know that the defence is a team wide thing. I don’t know if we’ve shucked the panic completely and certainly mistakes by Mertesacker against Norwich and Djourou against Dortmund make you scratch your head. Still, you’ve got your head in the sand if ignore the fact that the team certainly has significantly improved in all areas on the pitch.

Of course though everyone will continue to write and talk about Robin Van Persie. He is as I have said before the best forward in Europe save for either Ronaldo and Messi. According to the BBC Van Persie has been more prolific than even Messi. Van Persie has 44 goals in 50 games for club and country this calendar year at an average of 0.88 goals a game. Only Ronaldo is better with 53 in 55 games.

In the 38 he has scored for Arsenal in all competitions, he has become a virtual fox in the box. 33 of his goals have come from inside the box, 1 from outside the box, 2 from penalty kicks and 2 from free kicks. And those 33 it doesn’t matter how or where or from what angle. The ball finds him and he finds the back of the net.

People like to see this as an over dependence on one player. I tried to explain in the follow-up to the Dortmund win that I would see the point if he was doing the creation as well as the scoring but its not about that. Its not like City was with Tevez. Tevez would win the ball back and scamper forward using his footwork to open up defences and scores. Van Persie is getting service from the likes of Gervinho and Walcott. Of Walcott’s 8 assists in 2011 all of them have gone to Van Persie. The two of them have developed a very keen understanding of how to play together. And both are healthy and having banner years. Throw in new boy Gervinho and the attack with Van Persie is as close to being one of the best units in Europe. They are playing at a different level and they are that good.

Sure, I think like everyone else that it would be nice to have more scorers on the score sheet. But right now I am not going to worry about it unless Van Persie suddenly dries up or gets injured. Right now if Van Persie is in the box there is a better than even chance he is going to put Arsenal in a position to win a match.  I agree with the boss on this and feel that the Captaincy that seemed to be a burden to Fabregas has put another level into Van Persie’s play.

While I am sure there will be valleys again I am going to enjoy this.

How the Match Should Play Out:

At home Arsenal have been absolutely solid. They will come into play confident and I feel looking not be playing catch up like last week against Norwich. Fulham are in need of a pick me up and I just don’t see them playing defencively – they do have to get further away from the relegation zone after all. Look for them to try and stop the attack of Arsenal and hit the Gunners on the counter. The biggest problem for Fulham will be not conceding goals late in the game. As Arsenal always look a bet to score right now this could be key should Fulham be drawn equal to the Gunners late in the match. Still, it’s at home, the Gunners have dispatched better teams and I think they take this one handedly.

Players to Watch:

Arsenal: Theo Walcott. All the praise rightly goes to Robin Van Persie for his scoring prowess but Theo Walcott has been displaying a lot of the skills we had hoped to see earlier. If he improves his final ball – watch out.

Fulham. Bobby Zamora. Simply put the Fulham player who will try and test our CB the most. Zamora is a solid all around player and would probably get more recognition were he playing on a bigger team.

Probable Starting XI:

Injuries and Suspensions:
Arsenal: Wilshere (ankle)  Sagna (ankle) Gibbs (hernia) Jenkinson (back fracture)

Fulham: Duff (calf) Kelly (thigh) Davies (knee) Grygera (knee) Sa (hamstring) Kelly (groin) Sidwell (hernia)

Leading Scorers:
Arsenal:  Van Persie 18 (13 league)

Fulham: Johnson 3 (3 league) Zamora 3 (3 league) Dempsey 3 (3 league)

Last Meeting (EPL):

Arsenal: 2

Fulham: 2

Goals For:

Arsenal (home): 2.0

Fulham (away): 0.5

Goals Against:
Arsenal (home): 0.7

Fulham: (away): 1.0

Last Five:
Arsenal: WWWWW

Fulham: DLWLL

Goal Difference:
Arsenal: 3

Fulham: -1

Match Official:
Referee: Mike Dean (Matches 9, R1 Y29)

Broadcast Information:
US: Fox Soccer Channel 1230PM EST

UK: ESPN UK 1730 BST

GAMEDAY CHAT: It’s Open!!!!!!

www.youaremyarsenal.com/gamedaychat

YAMA Prediction:
Arsenal: 3

Fulham: 0

The Final Word:

With the Thanksgiving Holiday upon us here in the US, I just wanted to send out a note all of my readers and my die hard core of commenters – thank you. You make this blog so much fun to do and even when it gets trying and we have our disagreements, you’re stiull a great group of people and this blog would be nothing without you.

If you are in the US have a happy Thanksgiving and everyone else – let’s have a great Christmas season shall we?

Until later – Stay Goonerish

[donate]