Paul Merson expects his former club Arsenal to pick up a comfortable win against Fulham on Tuesday night.
The Cottagers head into the game off the back of a 3-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup and, writing in his Sportskeeda column, Merson said he doesn’t expect Marco Silva’s side to put up much of a fight when they face the Gunners at the Emirates:
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“This is a huge game that Arsenal must win. Fulham are a decent side, but the thing with them now is that their season is at risk of fizzling out. They got thrashed in the FA Cup by Crystal Palace and I’m not sure how effectively they can pick themselves up from that loss. That defeat would have really affected them because let’s be honest, they would have fancied themselves to reach the semi-final when the draw came out!”
“If Fulham had won against Crystal Palace, I would have given them a chance in this game. But as things stand, I can’t see anything but a win for Arsenal. Fulham are still in contention to qualify for Europe next season and they should go all in to try and achieve it.”
What score is Merson predicting?
The Sky Sports pundit has gone with a 3-0 victory for Mikel Arteta’s men, which is a scoreline that will delight supporters.
While the club’s hopes of winning the Premier League title are pretty slim, keeping up the pressure on leaders Liverpool ahead of the Merseyside derby is all they can really do.
Arsenal v Fulham team news
Bukayo Saka is back in training having recovered from a hamstring injury that has kept him sidelined since mid-December. The winger could make the bench tonight.
Jurrien Timber has been recovering from an illness but Arteta has passed him fit to face Fulham. However, Kai Havertz (hamstring), Gabriel Jesus (ACL), Riccardo Calafiori and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) are all unavailable.
For Fulham, Reiss Nelson wouldn’t have been able to play against his parent club anyway, but he is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury. Harry Wilson is out with a broken metatarsal, while Kenny Tete (knee) is also on the treatment table.
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