Fulham vs Arsenal

Craven Cottage is the venue as Fulham and Arsenal go head-to-head in an all-London Premier League match-up.

Fulham’s bid to secure a European finish for the first time in over a decade took a hit last weekend as a 3-2 defeat at cross-town rivals Brentford knocked them down from a five-game unbeaten run in the Premier League (W3, D2), leaving the ‘Cottagers’ four points adrift of fifth-placed Liverpool at the start of this round. Despite their overwhelming desire to bounce back, Marco Silva’s men are all too aware of their embarrassing 18-game form against sides commencing a Premier League matchday at the top of the table (W2, L16), including nine defeats in a row. But they’ve only lost three of their 13 home league matches this season (W6, D4), although their three-game Premier League form at Craven Cottage doesn’t look promising (W1, D1, L1).

On the other hand, Premier League pacesetters Arsenal have gone into overdrive since a 3-1 home loss to Manchester City in mid-February, racking up a four-match winning league streak, bookended by a sensational come-from-behind 3-2 home win over Bournemouth last weekend. Mikel Arteta’s men translated their free-scoring domestic form to the European stage, as they held Sporting Lisbon to an action-packed 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie in midweek, meaning they’ve scored 2+ goals in four of their last five games. Conceding first should not derail Arsenal’s hopes of extending their nine-game unbeaten Premier League run against Fulham (W7, D2), as they’ve won a league-high five matches from losing positions this season.