On Saturday, in a London derby, Arsenal will play host to Fulham at Emirates Stadium. Following successful seasons in 2022–2023, these two teams appear to be moving in separate directions.
The Gunners are poised to fight for the crown once more, and their team is more powerful and perhaps more eager to bring home hardware this year. This Arsenal team is resilient, and despite some significant injuries early in the season, Mikel Arteta's team is now better prepared to handle Gabriel Jesus and Jurrien Timber, both of whom suffered knee injuries.
The team's two narrow victories over Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace to start the season have hardly made headlines.
Aleksandar Mitrovic, Fulham's captain and talisman, left the club after officially completing a move to Saudi Arabia. The Cottagers were also without key midfielder Joao Palhinha due to injury, but he should be fit and ready for this match.
Marco Silva's team was outplayed by Brentford in the second half of their 3-0 home loss last week, and despite having a stellar season in which they finished 10th in their first season back in the Premier League, all of the early statistics point to a significant decline for them this season.
Tim Ream, the captain of Fulham, has been banned after receiving a somewhat severe red card in the loss to Brentford.
Mitrovic has been temporarily replaced by Raul Jimenez of Mexico while Fulham looks to add other attacking alternatives.
It's good to see Joao Palhinha back in the middle of the pitch after he came off the substitute's bench against Brentford when the lights were out; he ought to begin this match.
Adama Traore is a terrific option for Marco Silva to employ on the break in this match since another former Wolves attacker has also joined the squad.
Due to knee injuries, the Gunners are missing Gabriel Jesus and Jurrien Timber.
While Timber will be sidelined for the majority of this season after sustaining an ACL injury on his Premier League debut, Jesus was injured just before the start of the season and could recover within the next month or so.
Takehiro Tomiyasu, Timber's substitute, has been banned for this game due to his two cautions at Crystal Palace the previous time they played. However, Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is currently recuperating from his injury, should rejoin the team at left-back.
While Mohamed Elneny is still out following knee surgery, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Folarin Balogun are also unavailable as Arsenal hopes to sell them in the last week of the summer transfer window.
Eddie Nketiah will likely start at the top of the lineup for Arsenal once more, with Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard, and Havertz providing backup. It would be interesting to watch if Thomas Partey shifts to the right-back position or if Gabriel enters the squad at centre-back and Ben White switches to right-back.
26/08/2023 K24 EPL maskani this weekend
- Arsenal vs Fulham
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