Fulham star Emile Smith Rowe will come up against his former Arsenal teammates and Mikel Arteta this weekend in Premier League action. After 14 years at his boyhood club, Smith Rowe joined the Cottagers this past summer in a £34million deal.
From 16 appearances, he has scored three goals and grabbed two assists while also becoming part of an impressive Fulham attack. Marco Silva's side currently sit sixth in the table and head into the clash against Arsenal at Craven Cottage off the back of a 3-1 win against Brighton where former Gunners star Alex Iwobi scored twice.
Iwobi is just one of many ex-Arsenal stars now at Fulham with Bernd Leno two another. Reiss Nelson is also on loan from Emirates Stadium but Smith Rowe is of course the biggest name of the four given he is Fulham's record signing.
Ahead of seeing three players he previously worked with, Arteta gave a clear verdict while also mentioning Nelson. "They’re doing very well. I’m very happy for them. Reiss is still one of our own but the rest as well. It will be great to see them," he admitted.
On if he'd kept in touch with Smith Rowe, he said: "Once they leave you have to leave them to do their own thing. You speak to them once in a while, but very grateful for what they did for us and wish them the best." While Smith Rowe has impressed during his first few months at Fulham, Arsenal have no way of reversing that transfer decision.
As football.london reported at the time of his transfer, no buy-back clause was included in Smith Rowe's move to west London. However, Arsenal did include a 10 per cent sell-on clause in the agreement which would see them financially benefit from any move for Smith Rowe in the future.
Given he struggled to break back into the first-team after a number of injuries, Smith Rowe will be out to prove a point against his former club. Leno and Iwobi will also likely feel the same way with the latter in great form having grabbed six goal contributions in his last six games.