Fulham will look to follow up their sensational start to the new season at Sutton United when they travel to Boreham Wood to take on Arsenal in their opening fixture of the PL2 campaign tonight.
The Whites were rampant against non-league opposition in the National League Cup with Aaron Loupalo-Bi hitting a hat-trick, Tom Olyott bagging a brace and Terrell Works and Macaulay Zepa also getting on the scoresheet. The French winger has reportedly become a target for a number of Premier League clubs, including AFC Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest, after stalling on a signing a new deal with the Whites – but you can’t argue with the direction of travel since Hayden Mullins took charge of the under-21 side two summers ago.
Perhaps the best news on Tuesday was the return of Charlie Robinson, who played his first competitive minutes for two years. Robinson stole the show on his first outings in the academy as a tall, composed centre back and has battled back from serious injuries to not only reclaim his place in the academy set-up but wear the under-21’s captain’s armband. If there was ever any doubt that the 20 year-old didn’t deserve the professional contract he signed his summer, it should have been expunged by his brilliant interception when Sutton appeared set to pull a goal back in midweek. Pleasingly, Robinson came through his hour’s work unscathed and will add plenty of organisation and strength to Mullins’ back line this season.
Fulham will look to be on the front foot against one of the most successful academy programmes in English football. Arsenal have plenty of formidable talent, especially in the forward areas, with Max Dowman making waves in his senior squad appearances during pre-season. But the Whites will not be overawed. It will be interesting to see whether Mullins goes with the same personnel in the 4-3-3 he unveiled at Sutton. Ollie Gofford has been converted into a right back in recent years but played as a holding midfielder on Tuesday night, while Eddie Nsasi was shunted over to right back.
There’s plenty of power in Fulham’s forward line as the performances of Farhaan AlI Wahid, Zepa, Olyott and Loupalo-Bi over the summer have illustrated. It will be tougher to get through the Arsenal back-line than it was Steve Morison’s men in midweek. But I’m pretty sure that the under-21 boys will be more than relishing the step up in class.
