Arsenal make the short journey across London this weekend as they take onFulham at Craven Cottage in the Premier League.
The Gunners sit top of England’s top-flight and will hope to stay there as they look to end a more than 20-year wait without a league title.
Mikel Arteta has several injuries to contend with, and has done so throughout the campaign so far, but he has the majority of his players available to him this weekend.
After a challenging start to the season in terms of fixtures, Arsenal will look to build on the 16 points they have amassed so far.
Fulham are a familiar foe
In previous seasons, it can be argued that dropping points to Fulham has cost Arsenal a chance to lift the Premier League trophy in May.
In the 2023/24 campaign, the Cottagers obtained four points out of the two clashes against Arteta’s men: a 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium and an impressive 2-1 victory on home soil.
Manchester City ended up winning the title by just two points. Converting just one of those results into a victory would have seen Arsenal win the league on goal difference.
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However, the Gunners have developed and although the pain of those results still unearths itself in fans’ dreams, the current squad is more than capable of heading to Craven Cottage and securing the win.
Arteta will know what to expect from Marco Silva’s side; a compact and well-drilled outfit that likes to frustrate the so-called ‘big six’ and has experience of claiming several scalps across the years.
A victory here will provide further clarification that Arsenal have strengthened their title credentials.
Eze to step up?
A comfortable 2-0 win over West Ham capped off an almost-perfect weekend for Arsenal fans.
Martin Ødegaard suffered a knee injury that is likely to keep him out of the squad until the end of November. Thankfully, the Gunners captain did not suffer a more serious ACL injury that would have all but ended his campaign.
However, summer signing Eberechi Eze will likely feature as the creative spark in midfield now that Ødegaard is sidelined.
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It has been a positive start for the playmaker, an excellent display at another cursed ground for Arsenal in St James’ Park was a marker that the former Crystal Palace player can do it at this level.
Gunners’ fans will hope that Eze will be given a freer role than in previous matches. Playing as a left-sided winger has meant he has had to sacrifice elements of his game to help the side defensively.
However, having the duo of Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice alongside him should allow Eze’s defensive burden to be lifted and allow him to unlock the Fulham mid-block.
Eze has an important role to play in the next few months of Arsenal’s campaign.
Can Gyokeres get firing?
Viktor Gyokeres has had a mixed start to life at Arsenal. After scoring three Premier League goals against Nottingham Forest and Leeds, he has gone six games without scoring for the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta praised the Swedish striker for his work rate, despite his lack of goals. However, Gyokeres will be keen to get back to finding the back of the net.
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Some say that Arsenal have not fully adapted to having an out-and-out striker and the evidence does point to that.
Ever since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s messy departure from the club in 2022, the Gunners have operated with Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz as the main options. Jesus is arguably more of a false nine in the way he drops deep to make space for others, and Havertz lacks the clinicality of the world’s best strikers.
The players around Gyokeres need time to adjust to the way the Swede operates too, whether that be delivering more crosses or playing longer so he can hold up the ball and take more shots.
Just like with Florian Wirtz and Benjamin Sesko, among others, players are judged too harshly in the modern game.