By Bulldog Drummond
Mesut Ozil will return it seems or at least he will be assessed before the game against Fulham. And if he doesn’t play – well there will be another outburst of rumours, all without a trace of evidence.
In fact as far as we can tell the problem is a knee injury – and the Untold office knows all about knee injuries. Indeed not a day goes by without Tony telling anyone who will listen (which is an ever declining number of people) about the damage to his left knee caused by over-dancing. (This is apparently the dancing season with dances every night of the week, and so no chance for the knee to recover – at least that’s his story.)
Also it appears that Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal could also be available. Our three long term injured (Holding, Mkhitaryan and Welbeck) of course are all out while Konstantinos Mavropanos is gradually on his way back.
Fulham also have knee issues with Alfie Mawson having a serious knee injury.
One of the more interesting features of the Fulham v Arsenal game is that Fulham have never beaten Arsenal either at the Manor Ground, at Highbury or at Arsenal Stadium. So, for once we can be complete on this issue and give a complete list of all the times Fulham have beaten Arsenal.
| Date | Match | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08 Nov 1913 | Fulham v Woolwich Arsenal | 6-1 | League Division Two |
| 14 Apr 1951 | Fulham v Arsenal | 3-2 | League Division One |
| 18 Apr 1960 | Fulham v Arsenal | 3-0 | League Division One |
| 11 Apr 1962 | Fulham v Arsenal | 5-2 | League Division One |
| 01 Jan 1966 | Fulham v Arsenal | 1-0 | League Division One |
| 29 Nov 2006 | Fulham v Arsenal | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 23 Aug 2008 | Fulham v Arsenal | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 02 Jan 2012 | Fulham v Arsenal | 2-1 | Premier League |
In the matches on our own patch we have won 23, drawn five and lost eight.
But for Fulham there is even more of a challenge in that Claudio Ranieri has never won a Premier League match against Arsenal. In all he has been in charge on 10 occasions, drawing four and losing six, which in the context of Fulham’s performance overall against Arsenal isn’t so good. Apparently (and I don’t have the figures to back this assertion up) “he has a worse points-per-game ratio against the Gunners (0.40) than he does versus any other opponent in the competition.”
And despite our slip ups in recent games we have 22 games at home unbeaten against newly promoted opponents. The last people to beat us were Newcastle 1-0, in November 2010.
All told November has not been a bundle of laughs for Arsenal being knocked out of two cup competitions and losing our 22 match unbeaten run…
| Date | Game | Res |
Score | Competition |
| 02 Dec 2018 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | W | 4-2 | Premier League |
| 04 Dec 2018 | Portsmouth v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | League Trophy |
| 05 Dec 2018 | Manchester United v Arsenal | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 08 Dec 2018 | Arsenal v Huddersfield Town | W | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 13 Dec 2018 | Arsenal v FK Qarabağ Agdam | W | 1-0 | Europa League |
| 16 Dec 2018 | Southampton v Arsenal | L | 3-2 | Premier League |
| 19 Dec 2018 | Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 0-2 | League Cup |
| 22 Dec 2018 | Arsenal v Burnley | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 26 Dec 2018 | Brighton and Hove v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 29 Dec 2018 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 5-1 | Premier League |
One win in the last five is not what we were used to during the 22 match run but just as all good runs come to an end so do all bad runs.
The Untold team will of course be there, despite uncertainties about rail transport. The one thing we have all learned – the league never set fixtures with us mere supporters in mind.
A clean sheet , 3 points , no red cards , no penalties against us,and all,our players remain healthy and hale . Not too much to ask is it ?
Up the Gunners !
How about a couple of goals,maybe a hat trick even, for Auba for good measure?
Since Fulham have never beaten Arsenal in the PL at the Emirates Stadium before, then, Arsenal should not rest on their oars to take beating them today at the Ems in the PL for granted. Besides that an unwinning run could one day come to an end, but it’s not known if Fulham unwinning run against Arsenal at the Ems in the PL will come to end today as it’s only the PL football that can know that. Nevertheless. Arsenal should bear it in their minds that Fulham are at the deep ends of the relegation battle desperately looking to garner points to come out from it. And for this reason they will not mind if they get a point in their match against Arsenal today to help themselves.
Therefore, Arsenal should be careful to not concede any goals to Fulham in the match, but try as much as they could to score as many goals as they can against them.
The starting XI Arsenal team which Emery started away to Liverpool in the PL last Saturday was a strong starting XI team. Arsenal could have collected at least a point in that match had the Gunners been defensively tactful tactical in the game and have the final productive finishing in their attacking incursions into the Liverpool 18 yard area unto their box which they numerously had with so many goals scoring opportunities but couldn’t take them or utilise them due to poor finishing in froth of goal. Aaron Ramsey was guilty when he had the chance in the box to score for Arsenal but he shot over with the goalkeepers at his mercy. I think his mind is elsewhere as he doesn’t look to be playing with true commitment for Arsenal anymore but for his wages at the club inmov.
Iwobi and AMN were attacking threats revelation in the Liverpool game from the wings with Iwobi in particular doing a workaholic job in the match for Arsenal. Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Sokratis and Kolasinac manned the Arsenal back four defense-line in the Liverpool match I suppose. In the absent of Monreal and Bellerin who could be deployed for the Fulham match today had they not suffered injuries. But notwithstanding, I think Emery should start the same back four he had started in the Liverpool game for the Fulham match today and not thinker with it by making a change or changes to it. But for understanding and stability, let him leave it as it was at Liverpool.
My Arsenal 4-2-3-1 starting XI and the 7 Gunners I have on the bench for the match are stated below.
Starts:
Leno;
Lichtsteiner Mustafi Sokratis Kolasinac;
Torreira Xhaka;
Ains Maitland-Niles Ozil Iwobi;
Aubameyang.
Bench:
Cech Jenkinson Koscielny Guendouzi Elneny Saka Lacazette.