Arsenal are at home this weekend and will square off against tough opposition; Fulham have come up from the Championship and have yet to lose a game, managing ties against Liverpool and Wolves and a win against Brentford. A win would keep us at the top of the table as the only team to not drop points. The game kicks off at 5:30pm UK time (12:30pm EDT).

Last Match Observations

In my match preview for Arsenal’s game at Bournemouth, I mentioned that there were three key questions that I wanted answered. I did not expect those questions to be answered so clearly and succinctly.

We were certainly able to break down their low block through a combination of fantastic team play from our front line, and individual brilliance, primarily in the form of Gabriel Jesus. And because we were able to break down their defenses so easily, we put the game away with two goals in the first eleven minutes of the match. From there, it was a nice relaxing game due to the fact that the combination of Saliba and Gabriel in the back kept their forwards quiet for a vast majority of the game.

Speaking of those two goals, I wanted to take a second to give props to our captain. After two games where he did not seem to take the chances that came to him, many were starting to demand more selfishness in front of goal from Odegaard. This game he showed that, especially with the second goal where he called off our star striker to take the shot himself. If we see more of that throughout the season, then I can easily see him getting into double-digit figures for goals.

And we can’t talk about this game without mentioning that Saliba goal. You barely expect that quality from most forwards, let alone your center-back. I had just recently gotten his song out of my head, and upon writing this, got it stuck in my head again. Do Do Do Do Do Do Do SALIBA!

Expected Arsenal Starting XI

Arsenal have had the same starting eleven for the first three games of this season (five if you include preseason), and I don’t expect that will change for this game. The only position that has the potential for a strategic change could be Tomiyasu coming in for Ben White at right-back to add some more aerial dominance.

The only other possible reason for some potential rotation is that we have a midweek game coming up this Wednesday at home against Aston Villa. From there, with the Europa League games starting soon, we have midweek games pretty much all the way up until the break for the World Cup in November. So, if there’s any time to start some rotation, it would be now.

However, I don’t see that happening in this game, as we’ll likely see some players rested midweek in advance of our game at Old Trafford against Man United.

What to Expect from Fulham

The headline for Fulham so far this season has been their Serbian striker, Aleksander Mitrovic. He’s already bagged three goals this season with two of those coming against Liverpool. Last season, he scored an astounding 43 goals in 44 games in the Championship. Now, we’ve seen similar instances where strikers come up into the Premier League and see their goal tallies drop significantly due to the rise in opposing talent, but even if he gets a third of that goal tally, then he’ll be in for a good season.

We will also be expecting to see the return of former Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno to the Emirates. I assume he will receive a warm welcome from the home crowd. Let’s just hope he doesn’t have too good of a game this weekend.

Fulham tend to play in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Out of the three teams that were promoted from the Championship this season, they seem to have done the smartest bit of recruiting, including taking Leno from us for an absolute cut-rate fee. They’ve brought in some quality players to strengthen their side, but not so many that it disrupts the existing squad cohesion.

Key Questions

How do we handle Mitrovic?

The obvious conundrum for our back line tomorrow is going to be Mitrovic. Can we keep him quiet like we’ve done to other forwards this season? Ben White was able to handle Zaha well enough in our first game against Palace, and when he couldn’t, Saliba was there to clean up. In our second game, we kept Vardy from scoring, though he kind of forced the error for the own goal. As for Bournemouth, their forwards could barely get two consecutive touches on the ball, let alone a shot on goal. I have faith in our back line, but they’ll certainly be tested tomorrow.

Can Saka make his contribution breakthrough?

It’s been a relatively quiet start to the season for our star boy, even though he has, in all honesty, been playing quite well. He has been at the start of some great chances, some of which ended with a goal. However, he still has yet to register a goal or an assist this season.

Last season, teams figured out that if you are able to mark Saka out of the game, then you are pretty well able to neutralize Arsenal’s attacking threat. But this season, he’s not our only threat on goal with Jesus, Martinellli, and even the likes of Xhaka and Odegaard sharing the burden and adding some offensive firepower. Eventually, teams will realize that they can’t simply double-team Saka lest they risk opening up space for others to exploit. Once that happens, Saka should hopefully be able to join in on the goalscoring fun.

Do we use the subs to prepare for the midweek game?

If we’re not going to make any changes to the starting lineup, then I really hope we are able to make much earlier changes to the team during this game. We have a game coming just four days after this one, and making early substitutions would have the benefit of both giving some of our starters a bit of rest, as well as giving more gametime to some of our players that may end up being rotated into the squad for Wednesday’s game. Arteta has gotten progressively better with his subs over the course of these first three games of the season, so hopefully he can continue that streak.

Final Prediction

While Fulham might provide us with a tougher challenge than one would expect from a newly-promoted team, I still think Arsenal should be able to handle this game well, especially being at home. I back our defense to be able to handle Fulham enough to grab the clean sheet, so I’ll predict a 3-0 for Arsenal with a goal from Gabi Jesus and a Saka brace.