Fulham vs Arsenal : Team News, Gabriel close to Injury return and Match facts

Arsenal will be looking for a fifth Premier League win in a row to maintain their lead at the top when they take on Fulham at the weekend.
The Gunners proved that First Division success remains their priority after Mikel Arteta made six changes for their 2-2 Europa League draw with Sporting Lisbon in midweek.
Arsenal are still struggling on two fronts this seasonAFP

The north Londoners could reduce their deficit from five points to just two if Manchester City face Crystal Palace the day before their game.
Fulham, meanwhile, will be looking to revive their European football bid after their seven-game unbeaten streak ended with a 3-2 loss to Brentford on Monday.

Fulham vs Arsenal: Date and as follows

 The Premier League match will be played on Sunday 12 March.
The match at Craven Cottage starts at 2.00pm.
This match will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League with live coverage from 1pm.

Fulham v Arsenal: team news

The hosts will still be without midfielder Palhinha, who is serving the second of a two-match suspension for too many yellow cards. Cedric Soares – on loan from Arsenal – is unavailable as he cannot play against his local club, while Layvin Kurzawa and Neeskens Kebano are injured.

The visitors, meanwhile, will have to rely on Gabriel Martinelli to fuel their attack as Eddie Nketiah, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus are still on the sidelines.
The latter is the closest to a return although this match comes too soon for him, but Kieran Tierney and Martin Odegaard should be back from illness.

Mohamed Elneny remains absent for the long term.
Fulham vs Arsenal: what was said?… Mikel Arteta admits his side need to ‘improve massively’ after the 2-2 draw with Sporting Lisbon.
“It’s true that we have to improve massively if we want to keep winning games,” the Spaniard told BT Sport.

“When you concede two weak goals, like we did away in Europe, it’s very difficult to get a positive result.
“We gave away too many easy balls. We have to defend our box much better.

Fulham vs Arsenal: the facts of the match

 Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson has made just three Premier League appearances this season (all as a substitute) and has played just 85 minutes in those games. However, he has five goals in those games (3 goals, 2 assists) and is only the second player, after Vladimir Smicer in 2001, to score and assist in two different games as a substitute in the same season.

Manor Solomon has scored (five goals) in each of his last five appearances for Fulham in all competitions. This weekend, Erling Haaland (10) and Marcus Rashford (7) are the only Premier League players to record a long scoring streak in 2022-23.

Bukayo Saka has generated more chances from a carry (moving more than 5 yards with the ball) than any other Premier League player this season (44), with the Arsenal winger attempting 21 shots to create 23 chances for create a teammate. Arsenal have scored three 90th-minute winners in the Premier League this season, the most in a single season in the competition (also three in 1999/00, 2009/10, 2011/12 and 2016/17). These three winners have all come in their last eight games (against Man Utd, Aston Villa and Bournemouth).

Arsenal have won five Premier League games this season by conceding the opening goal, and only won other such games in the competition in 1999/00 (7), 2003/04 (6) and 2011/ 12 (6). The Gunners have won a league-high 15 points from positions they have lost so far this season.

Fulham have lost just three of their 13 home Premier League games this season (W6 L4) against Newcastle, Manchester United and Tottenham. Even if they lose all of their remaining home games this season, that would be fewer defeats (9) than they have suffered at Craven Cottage in any of their previous three Premier League campaigns (13 in 2020 -21, 10 in 2018-19 and 11). 2013-14).

Fulham have lost 16 of their last 18 Premier League games against teams that have started the day top of the table (S2), including each of the last nine games in a row. The exceptions in this run were wins in March 2006 (against Chelsea) and March 2009 (against Manchester United).

Arsenal have won all four Premier League away derbies in London this season by an aggregate score of 8-0. Never in the history of the English Football League has a team won five consecutive away derbies in London without conceding a goal each time. Arsenal have won 71% of their Premier League matches against Fulham (22/31), the highest win percentage against an opponent they have faced more than 20 times in the league.

Fulham are winless in nine Premier League games against Arsenal (D2 L7) since a 2-1 home win in January 2012. They have lost all four of them to the Gunners at Craven Cottage in this run.