England Premier League
Sunday 31st December 2023
Kick off at 2pm GMT
Venue: Craven Cottage
Match Preview:
Arsenal’s title ambitions have taken a raincheck after they were beaten 2-0 against West Ham at home. It was the first defeat at home this season for the Gunners and it was unexpected. Arsenal are still of course in a title hunt and are in 2nd place and 2 points behind Liverpool but that defeat has let in Manchester City who would go above Arsenal if they were to win their game in hand.
Perhaps the worry for manager Mikel Arteta is that his side have won just once from the past four games and if they were to drop points on the last day of the year the critics would start to sharpen the knives again and the footballing columns would turn negative. Arsenal has the fourth best away record in the league with 17 points won from 27 but their last away victory came almost a month ago and that was only a last ditch effort in their epic 4-3 win over Luton.
Fulham are down in 13th place and their two back to back 5-0 wins at home seem an awfully long time ago. Since then they have lost their last 3 games in a row with defeats against Newcastle, Burnley and Bournemouth. At the halfway stage and with 21 points the Cottagers are well on course to survive this season but false hope after those two 5-0 wins seems to have evaporated, and quickly. Whatever happens in this game Marco Silva’s side will not be able to advance up the table as they are lagging four points behind 12th placed Bournemouth.
Team News:
Fulham: Matthew Dibley-Dias remains a major doubt to be ready for this game and isn’t expected back as he recovers from a hamstring injury. Tim Ream is expected to miss the next 2 weeks with his calf injury and Adama Traore isn’t expected back for at least 10 days as he is suffering from fitness issues.
Arsenal: Fabio Vieira remains sidelined with a groin injury and isn’t expected back for 3 weeks. Thomas Partey is still missing due to a muscle injury. Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu are out with no fixed return date.
Fulham vs Arsenal Head to Head:
Last season Arsenal won this fixture 3-0.
Arsenal are unbeaten in this fixture over the last 11 years and have won 8 times.
There is a 70% chance to see over 2.5 goals.
Fulham vs Arsenal Prediction:
The defeat against West Ham should be a wake up call to Arsenal, not that West Ham are poor but that Arsenal have been so dominant at home this season and seemed to have gone up several levels even from last season that would have suggested that beating a side like the Hammers at home should have been achievable. That wasn’t so and the worry is that some doubts that have hampered the club over the past decade will creep back in. This is the type of game to put that to bed.
Arsenal have a superb record over Fulham and we expect that to continue and we should see a few goals too. Fulham look shaken at present and nobody would have seen that coming from a side who were able to score 13 goals in three games as recent as earlier this month, that’s football though. Arsenal are on a different level to Fulham but at the same time Arteta needs to have calmed his players ahead of this game, the Premier League takes no fools and Arsenal will need to be at their usual standards, we think they will and this should be a straightforward win for the Gunners.
Fulham vs Arsenal Betting Tips:
Arsenal to beat Fulham at 1.53
Anytime goalscorer: Gabriel Martinelli at 3.25
Anytime goalscorer: Leandro Trossard at 3.10
Over 2.5 goals at 1.66
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