by 2:09 p.m
7 minutes: Fulham 0 Arsenal 0
Antonee Robinson gives young master Saka a reducer. Arsenal’s free-kick attempt is lame, some shots ending with Marinetelli hobbing the ball forward for a goal kick.
2:08 p.m
5 minutes: Fulham 0 Arsenal 0
Trossard in the middle but Fulham handle that pretty well.
2:03 p.m
3 minutes: Fulham 0 Arsenal 0
game still to be settled. Arteta is targeting his 100th win as Arsenal manager, according to a graphic on Sky Sports.
2:01 p.m
1 minute: Fulham 0 Arsenal 0
It’s the Gunners who have the ball in the first minute and play it around the back.
1:59 p.m
This is Mike
1:36 p.m
Jesus
Well, we’ll see, won’t we…
1:28 p.m
Marco Silva
“We know what they’ve done so far this season. We’ve shown our players that we can play anyone this season.”
1:28 p.m
Jesus has risen!
However, only suitable for the bank. Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal number 9, is back in the matchday squad for the first time since November.
1:04 p.m
teams
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Adarabioyo, Ream, Antonee Robinson, Reed, Lukic, Reid, Andreas Pereira, Solomon, Mitrovic. subs: Rodak, Wilson, James, Vinicius, Diop, Francois, Harris, Wickens, Charlie Robinson.
arsenal: Ramsdale, Weiss, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Odegaard, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Trossard, Martinelli. subs: Tierney, Gabriel Jesus, Smith Rowe, Holding, Tomiyasu, Jorginho, Vieira, Nelson, Turner.
referee: David Coote (Nottinghamshire)
So Odegaard got over the bad feeling and Trossard shook off that knock. Nketiah isn’t even fit enough for the bench. Tierney in the matchday squad.
12:41 p.m
Arsenal travel to Fulham
Hello and welcome to our live blog of the Premier League match between Fulham and Arsenal. Action comes to us from Craven Cottage, and it’s a mild south-west London afternoon, mid fifties, and a light breeze, possibly later rain showers.
Arsenal are, of course, top of the table and two points clear of Manchester City, having played a game fewer than their northern rivals. Fulham are eighth on 39 points, the same number of points as Brighton in seventh. Seventh place will be good enough to guarantee European football.
Here’s some information to choose from, we’ve got the team news at 1pm and kick-off is at two.
Fulham are without suspended defender Joao Palhinha. Cedric Soares, who is of course an Arsenal player on loan at Fulham, will not play against his parent club. Tom Cairney, Layvin Kurzawa and Neeskens Kebano are all unavailable.
Martin Odegaard and Kieran Tierney were unwell during the week, missing out on the club’s 2-2 draw at Sporting Lisbon. Leandro Trossard and Eddie Nketiah both fight with punches.
Quite a busy afternoon in the Premier League. Manchester United play Southampton at 2pm and West Ham host Villa at the same time. I’ll bring you updates on those other two games at 2pm and then we’ll have live blog coverage of Newcastle vs Wolves later in the afternoon.
Arsenal have a very good record against Fulham recently. They’ve already beaten them 2-1 this season. Arsenal won 3-0 at Craven Cottage in the 20-21 season. In 18-19, they pumped them home and away 9-2 overall. You have to look back to January 2012 for the Cottagers’ last success: thanks to Sidwell (85th) and Zamora (90th) they won 2-1. Noise.
Fulham lost 3-2 at Brentford last time out but have had a good run before that: four wins and three draws in their last seven.
