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By Tony Attwood
As we approach this match, the different attitudes of different leagues towards the issue of postponing matches is revealed yet again, as some leagues, such as the French league, may postpone matches before major Euro mid-week games. This, however, is absolutely not allowed by the Premier League – or at least not when Arsenal are involved – and so Arsenal are ordered to push ahead with their game this weekend against Fulham.
According to the record books, Arsenal have won 44 games against Fulham and lost just nine, with one of those being in 1913 in Division 2.
The last 15 games between the two have resulted in one win for Fulham, that being on New Year’s Eve 2023. Otherwise, in the 15-match run, Arsenal have won ten, and there have been four draws. But there has been a bit of slippage of late with a run of three games between the two clubs in 2023/24, which ended with one Fulham win and two draws. But Arsenal have nevertheless won the last couple of games, although only by one goal each time.
Fulham have just won one of their last five matches, that being against Burnley. They have lost to Southampton and Liverpool and drawn with Forest and Brentford. The only time they have scored more than one goal in these recent games was against Burnley.
However, Fulham are now reporting a bit of an injury crisis in that Ryan Sessegnon is not going to be able to play after being injured in Fulham’s match against Aston Villa. Premier Injuries reports that Kevin Santos Lopes de Macedo is also out, along with Iwobi.
Ryan Sessegnon and Ryan Sessegnon are being assessed but are each only rated as having a 25% chance of playing.
The clubs with the most injuries at the moment are Tottenham with 10 men down, while Nottingham Forest and Liverpool each have eight. According to Premier Injuries, Arsenal have Timber, Havertz and Merino ruled out, with Odegaard having just a 50/50 chance of playing.
So, it would be a sign of nerves and a real one-up for the journalists who have been spreading negative stories about Arsenal of late, if this game were to be anything but an Arsenal win.
But there is a worrying sign for Arsenal, as they have not scored more than one goal in each of the last eight games in all competitions, and that certainly needs to improve in the remaining matches in the season. The last game with more than one Arsenal goal was the 2-0 victory on 17 March against Bayer Leverkusen.
And yet despite this lack of goals, Arsenal are still fourth in the last six games league table behind Manchester City, Brighton and Hove, and Nottingham Forest. Arsenal have picked up 12 points in their last six league games and Manchester C have 14.
Arsenal of course are top of the league table as we know with Fulahm in 12th
|
Club
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
34
|
22
|
7
|
5
|
64
|
26
|
38
|
73
|
|
| 10 | Fulham | 34 |
14
|
6
|
14
|
44
|
46
|
-2
|
48
|
We might particularly notice the difference in goal differences (if you see what I mean) with Arsenal on +38 and Fulham on -2. Fulham went out of the League Cup to Newcastle in December and the FA Cup to Manchester City in February.
From 2017/18 they have been promoted from the Championship three times, and their current run of three consecutive seasons in the Premier League is their best since their 12-year run from 2002 to 2014.
Since 1952, they have been relegated from the top division nine times – but self-evidently keep on bouncing back.
But the big issue for Arsenal, of course, is current form. The win over Newcastle ended the run of four consecutive defeats, although these were across three different competitions. So remarkably, Arsenal are still three points clear at the top of the league and, as we have noted, fourth in terms of league position over the last six games. And indeed, although we don’t normally mention it, Arsenal are second if one builds a league table over the last ten games. So things are not quite as catastrophic as the media likes to pretend.
And it really is very easy to see why the last ten games is not a league table favoured by the media since at the moment the bottom club in that chart is Tottenham Hotspur, who sit just below Burnley and Chelsea.
That Arsenal have conceded just 11 goals at home this season in the league must be a bit of a worrying statistic for any club that turns up at the Arsenal stadium, and especially for Fulham, who have scored just 16 away goals – the same as Newcastle. Only Wolverhampton (seven) have scored fewer.
