Opening day London derby as Fulham host Arsenal

Scott Parker’s Cottagers return to the Premier League at the first time of asking begins on Saturday lunchtime with a London derby against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. In the presence of some poor underlying numbers the Gunners have risen to become one of the form teams in the country after finishing 2019/20 strongly particularly in the FA Cup before proving their ability once again in beating champions Liverpool to the Community Shield last weekend. Arsenal are huge favourites with Fulham firmly in the relegation conversation, however the North Londoners finished 11^th in the expected goals table in 2019/20, so let’s not get carried away.

Background

Arsenal have won the last five head-to-heads and will be hoping they can lean on that as they only managed four victories on the road in 2019/20, when they finished eight, their worst performance for 25 years. They are so heavily reliant on the clinical finishing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who has accounted for seven of their last eight goals in competitive football, he has also found the net in his last two meetings with Fulham.

Even though they invested over £100million for the 2018/19 Premier League season, Fulham went down with a whimper, conceding 81 goals in the process. Which is the most any side has conceded since the Cottagers themselves let in 85 in 2013/14.

Transfer business

Having looked at Arsenal’s eye-catching deals in my Community Shield preview let’s look at the newly promoted hosts. Parker has prioritised securing the players that helped him earn promotion in making the initial loan moves permanent of Anthony Knockaert and Harrison Reed. The latter coming in alongside colleague Mario Lemina from Southampton is a very precocious holding midfielder. Reed has the ability to dictate play and is a crucial cog in Fulham’s possession style, expected to step up in the absence of Harry Arter who has returned to his parent club Bournemouth.

Joe Bryan at left back was the playoff final hero in bagging a brace but will need to continue that form with highly rated Antonee Robinson brought in from Wigan Athletic for competition for places. With the administrators in as the Latics look for new owners, many of their best assets have been sold at a cut price. 23-year-old Robinson had been subject to bids from AC Milan in January pushing towards the £10million mark but such is the sorry state of affairs at Wigan that the Cottagers picked up the exciting prospect for just under £2million.

African midfielders Jean Michael Seri and Andre Zambo Anguissa return to the club following loan spells in the topflights of Turkey and Spain respectively, though expect Parker to stay true to those who served him well last season in the opening knockings of this campaign.

The Gunners were shocking away from home last season, so it is hard to get too excited about them for this fixture despite the heavy favourites tag.

Fulham – Arsenal Betting Tip

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Anytime Goalscorer + Fulham to Score Under 1.5 goals with bet365 at odds of 27/25 or 2.07.

Bet Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Anytime Goalscorer + Fulham to Score Under 1.5 goals on Bet365