How do you respond to the disappointment of Saturday’s crushing FA Cup quarter final defeat against Crystal Palace? An afternoon where the passion of the Hammersmith End wasn’t reflected in the fight from Fulham’s players after former Motspur Park schoolboy Ebere Eze reminded the Whites just what they had passed up a decade ago. Well, the fixture list offers an immediate opportunity by throwing up another London derby against illustrious opposition that the Cottagers have never beaten in an away league fixture.
Our Cup hopes might have been crushed within the space of four minutes as Eze ruthlessly exploited the weaknesses of Marco Silva’s right flank, but remarkably the Portuguese head coach has steered his stylish side into continental contention in the league. Fulham might never have won a league fixture at either Highbury or the Emirates, but they have earned a reputation as opponents that the Gunners could do without since returning to the top flight. You might make a compelling case for a combination of Joao Palhinha’s late header and a brilliant Bobby De Cordova-Reid strike being the reasons why Mikel Arteta’s side didn’t lift the title last season – and Fulham are unbeaten against Arsenal in their last three league outings.
Silva’s side have always played better against sides who want to play with the ball rather than sit in and frustrate and there is no more expansive side in the top flight than Arteta’s Arsenal. Rather than fearing a run of fixtures that sees his side take on the Gunners, then face the team many have already annointed as champions-elect on Sunday before taking a testing Monday night trip to a buzzing Bournemouth side before attempting to complete a SW6 derby double, you get the sense that Fulham will be fired up to prove a few people wrong.
That will take some doing against an Arsenal side who will want to finish the season strongly, even if overcoming a twelve-point deficit to leapfrog Liverpool with nine games to go seems a little fanciful. The Gunners have been buoyed by the earlier than expected return to training of Bukayo Saka, with the England winger – who has missed three months with a hamstring injury – expected to start on the right flank this evening. Jurrien Timber has shaken off sickness to be available for selection, but Arteta will be without the reliability of Riccardo Calafiori.
This is the most one-sided fixture in the history of English league football. Arsenal have never lost in 31 home matches against Fulham, registering 24 wins and seven draws. The points that the Whites have smuggled out of the red half of north London have always felt important – from the 0-0 at Highbury in 2003 when Edwin van der Sar pulled off save after superb save, to the stalemate in 2008 that proved Roy Hodgson’s side had continental calibre and, of course, the absolute epic that concluded with a magnificent Mark Schwarzer save from Arteta’s own spot-kick after Martin Jol’s side had come back from 2-0 and eventually claimed a share of the spoils.
Silva summed up Arsenal’s strengths well during his press conference yesterday, with a disarmingly candid Arteta admitting that his side need a number nine and significant reshaping of the first-team squad in the summer. But there is no shortage of talent in the Gunners’ ranks, which leaves Silva will be plenty of things to think about. How severely does he shake up a starting eleven that didn’t deliver against Palace? There could be wholesale changes, but I think Silva might be smarter than that. Thornton Heath-born Emile Smith Rowe will receive a raputurous reception on his first return to the Emirates, but the mercurial number ten needs to start in place of Andres Pereira having been handed a thankless task in the second half on Saturday.
The balance of Fulham’s right flank is all wrong without Kenny Tete and Harry Wilson. Timothy Castagne was badly exposed for both of the first two Palace goals, but he could little cover from Alex Iwobi or other team-mates in both of those incidents. Both Tete and Wilson are stepping up their training regime, but the pair will likely be out until the trip to Dean Court. In their absence, it might be worth unleashing Adama Traore who almost embarrassed the Arsenal defence in the way that he left Harry Maguire kicking out at thin air on that famous day at Old Trafford. There must also be questions about the amount of protection afforded to a creaking central defence, but wholesale changes don’t feel appropriate ahead of a match of this magnitude.
Raul Jimenez would be forgiven for thinking about the horrid head injury he suffered on this ground a few years ago, but the Mexican veteran is chomping at the bit for another chance in the first team after his Indian summer at international level. The former Wolves forward could come straight back in – with Rodrigo Muniz a handy option to have off the bench. It certainly won’t be easy but Silva is easily the best Fulham boss in terms of picking up points in London derbies. This time it is the mighty Whites who have a point or two to prove – and they will need to up their work ethic from Saturday’s stroll in the SW6 sunshine for Palace.
MY FULHAM XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, A. Robinson, Hughes; Lukic, Berge; Traore, Willian, Smith Rowe; Jimenez. Subs: Benda, Diop, R. Sessegnon, Reed, King, Cairney, Iwobi, Pereira, Muniz.
