Match details:
Arsenal vs Fulham
5:00 PM IST
Premier League opener Preview:
In the Premier League opener for 2020, a resurgent Arsenal will cross swords with Fulham in a lopsided encounter. Mikel Arteta’s wards had a terrific ending to the season as they are unbeaten in all competitions in the last six games. Their most convincing victory came against Klopp’s Liverpool as the team walked away with the Community Shield.
Fulham, on the contrary, finished in the fourth place in the EFL championship before wringing out a close-cut victory against Brentford to make the cut for the league of elites. However, their over-reliability on their striker Mitrovic is most likely to backfire in case if the rest of the team fails to garner ample spirits.
Also, Aubameyang has been in red-hot form in the recent games that have seen him firing on all cylinders. Given the fact that Fulham will need more than a spirited performance to keep the Gunners at bay, Arteta will eye for a comprehensive start to the fray.
Fulham has posted a decent show in the Championship, however, they will have to up their game by a million notches to parallel the Premier League forces.
Head to head:
Arsenal savours a comprehensive sway over their counterparts as the last time Fulham managed to secure a victory over the Gunners were way back in 2012 when they came up trumps, thanks to two late strikes from Bobby Zamora and Steve Sidwell that conjured drama of the highest order.
However, Arsenal learnt their lesson and they learnt it well as they razed over Fulham with the bulldozer in the following games. The last three games saw Arsenal victorious by an emphatic margin as the Gunners managed to put 4, 5 and 2 goals past their emasculated counterparts.
The last game saw Arsenal slicing Fulham apart as goals from Granit Xhaka, Alexandre Lacazette, Aaron Ramsey and Aubameyang saw them home comfortably.
Probable teams:
Arsenal:
Bernd Leno; Kieran Tierney, William Saliba, Rob Holding; Bukayo Saka, Dani Ceballos, Granit Xhaka, Hector Bellerin; Nicolas Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emmerick Aubameyang
Fulham:
Alphonse Areola; Joe Bryan, Michael Hector, Tim Ream, Denis Odoi; Tom Cairney, Harrison Reed, Mario Lemina; Ivan Cavaleiro, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Anthony Knockaert
Picks to consider:
Pierre Emmerick-Aubameyang will be the one to look out for after a stellar run in their last few matches. His goal-scoring ability increased itself exponentially coming to the close of the season.
Aleksandar Mitrovic is Fulham’s marksman. If they choose to resort to Route One brand of football where they will need a target to deliver the balls to, it will be the big man from Serbia.
Captaincy choices:
1. Pierre Emmerick-Aubameyang
2. Alexandre Lacazette
Prediction:
It is pretty much a foregone conclusion that Arsenal will have a cakewalk in the middle if not for a miracle. The match will be heavily tipped in the scales of the Gunners unless Mitrovic performs something extraordinary to pull an ailing Fulham out of their misery.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are of the author and is not a reflection of the actual points, you might earn.
