Arsenal take on Fulham at Craven Cottage this afternoon, looking for three points to go into 2024 top of the table.
Here are the official line-ups.
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Tosin, Bassey, Robinson, Palhinha, Cairney, De Cordova-Reid, Iwobi, Willian, Jimenez
Subs: Rodak, Tete, Ballo-Toure, Diop, Lukic, Reed, Wilson, Andreas, Muniz
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Rice, Havertz, Odegaard, Martinelli, Saka, Nketiah
Subs: Ramsdale, Cedric, Tomiyasu, Smith Rowe, Jorginho, Elneny, Nelson, Trossard, Jesus
Over to you Eddie… Time to step up!
A must win game really. Let’s go gooners!
We can and we will cos we are the ARSENAL. COYG
Hahaha! No chance.
We’re playing rubbish… Absolutely rubbish.
Come on boys, let’s do them!
We are tanked out
Come on you gunners. Massive 3 points. Nketia is not good enough as a back up let alone starter for team with aspirations of winning league but praying he can deliver something today.
That is a fact many are not willing to accept.
City have Haaland and Alvarez.
Liverpool have Nunez and Jota.
We have Jesus and Nketiah…not good enough.
We’re calling Eddie today.
Tomiyasu is back (in the bench)
Not hating on Eddie here, but what would you say he offers to the team when selected? Often seems like his performances are underwhelming and when he is brought on quite late, not really sure what attribute he’s bringing.
Hopefully he can repeat his performance against Sheff Utd.
When our front 3 are on such a poor scoring run, of course the squad players should get an opportunity ! Why would any squad player or any future signing join if the same three that’s not currently scoring or creating keep getting picked ? What’s the motivation for anyone to keep training hard or consider joining?
Agreed.
Its a pity that doesn’t apply to managers who use the same approach game in and game out.
He’s been selected because Jesus needs a rest. Next man up. I actually like it because it means Jesus will be fresh off the bench if we need him to change the game. Eddie is not capable of doing that as a sub.
We are not capable of creating anymore
Wonder which of our former players will score against us today. Iwobi? Willian? My money’s on Leno
Yeah drop Jesus but God forbid you’d drop Raya and give Ramsdale a chance.
Ffs! This whinging about Ramsdale not starting is getting stale. Why do you want to change a keeper who has not put a foot wrong in the last, what, 4 games?
We’ve conceded from 8 of our last 15 shots on target.
For me, he has far less presence than Ramsdale, and rarely makes game changing saves. So not sure he’s completely blameless.
Where the shot is taken from, chance probability, quality of the shot (like the Mavrapanos header), shitty defending and little silly things like that have to be taken into consideration.
Jesus has been terrible and deserves to be a squad player
Less presence? Ramsdale looks like a deer in headlights under crosses.
Well said.
It’s a vote leave thing.
Obviously you haven’t been watching him very closely.
Excellent question. Where you asking the same one when Ramsdale had an incredible season and was then changed?
It’s over. Time to move on.
it’s the stats, dont ya know???
Haha! True. I’m sure it was the same with Havertz, it’s the stats!
So we’ve replaced a left-back who can’t defend with a defender who can’t play at left-back?
This is where the Jurrien Timber injury is biting us. He was perfect for that role.
Timber is right footed and played most of his career so far at Centre-right and right back…
We don’t know that. He showed some green shoots but we can’t say he would have been a game changer, Kiwior and Tommy poor today. This is the worst performance ever
Damn, they have William and Jimenez back?! Going to be tougher than I expected, this.
Incoming worldie from Leno in 5..4…3..2…
He’s piss poor on his best day. Just look at turner. Glad we got a few pounds out of him.
🤣🙈
We need to shoot on target first
A must win match, time to step up Eddie. COYG….
Thank god no Zinchenko
Zinchenko isn’t even on the bench – wonder what that’s about ?
Calf issue
Ah right, thanks
We need a big game from Eddie today and Martinelli who has been poor lately. Having Kai back is a big plus, he was missed against West ham.
Fulham won’t make it easy, no heart involved, my head is saying a draw or very late win
There is always some element of frustration in Arteta’s choices. Ramsdale one of the best goalkeepers in the PL last season dropped, Tierney gone on loan and Smithe Rowe who was banging in goals for fun before injury cant get a chance to replace Martinelli who has scored just 2 goals this season. Arteta has made a few bad choices that show his inexperience. The golden rule is if it ain’t broken don’t fix it.
COME ONE YOU GUNNERS 🔴⚪️
3 former Arsenal players. The voodoo hopefully stops here. Red for Willian? Be a nice gift.
God bless Eddie – hopefully he is the real son of the almighty. He at least always has his eye on the goal. And he has scored more than Jesús. Call us home!
All the best today and happy new year Blogs and all Gunners!
Zinny not even on the bench. Injured again? Or just so out form that he has been dropped (which would be legit atm).
Only 3 defenders when the pass came for Jiminez to score.When the gunners want to score ,they are facing nine defenders.
Speed up the attack or it will another loss
I been saying the same thing for ages. Our build up is too slow and we hold on to the ball far too long. It’s annoying to watch
It came from a “double transition” which is one of the most dangerous moments in football. That happens when you win it back, start to attack, but immediately lose it again. The opponents haven’t recovered fully from being in attack initially, but you have already started to move towards attack. This type of situation always means defending lots of space with relatively few bodies. That said, Kiwior has to match the run of Jimenez much better than that. He was in position and still lets man and ball get past him. That’s basic stuff.
How did we not cash in on Eddie? He’s not even a backup really. If we can get £40M in January then sell!
Already looking forward to Arteta’s excuses after this.
He is championship player at best. He needs to be subbed now and Jesus brought on. Something tells me it won’t happen until last 20 minutes. This is poor management from Arteta. Slow ponderous football. Our goal came from breaking fast. Since then we have been Shite.
Agreed.
“Not even a backup” has 6 goals this season. And if he’s not even a backup then who do you think is going to pay 40 million for him? If you think he’s worthless I will strongly disagree, but he can’t be worthless and be sold for 40 million, that makes no sense.
I don’t need to list the amount of teams who have paid a lot of money for players that aren’t worth it. Chelsea and man utd could list 10 in their current squads alone.
I never said he’s worthless but definitely NOT a top 4 striker.
I’m really worried about getting top 4, let alone being title challengers. We seem so lacking in confidence. However, if there is to be a slump, let it be now rather than our usual April nosedive.
Whenever your confidence is low just play Arsenal – they seemingly are intent on self-implosion and will give you the opportunities you need to jump start your own flagging season.
We need a top class left back and and a striker so expect a new goalkeeper and right winger in the January window.
If this does turn out to be another dud season you wonder if MA will remain given that he has spent half a billion and done nothing..
Let’s face it,that’s quite possible
If Arteta can’t figure out a response to the low block (& a £65M tall German with no defined position you try and find at the back post isn’t it) then his position as a top 4 coach needs to be questioned.
Are you talking about this game? Fulham have pressed high and aggressively.
Fulham super aggressive in the press and looking confident going forward. Arsenal finding it hard to cope without our best techincal players at LB and CF. Referee happy to allow a high level of physical aggression both ways. We have not controlled this game like we usually do and if anything they have had the better of the half. Lots of tired legs out there and we became very passive with the early goal. Better after the equalizer but still a much more even game than I would like to see. Jorginho, Jesus, Smith-Rowe the players we could use to… Read more »
Cannot believe the space given out wide in this game. Really poor performance.
I reckon Saka’s been a bit crap since he got that “twat in a hat” hairstyle.
Pathetic.
Saka and Martinelli: overrated
Jesus: grifter
Nketiah:championship level
Dishing out more crap
Looking laboured and bereft of ideas. Like we’ve hit a brick wall.
We will be lucky for top 6
Tactically predictable, static in attack, timid and uninspired everywhere else. That’s all there was today.