🕟 Kick Off: 17:30 BST

🏟️ Venue: Emirates Stadium

📺 UK Broadcaster: Sky Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Jarred Gillett

📹 VAR: Peter Bankes

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Martin Ødegaard (Knee):Doubt. The captain was forced off in Madrid with knee pain. Arteta on the captain: “Let’s see”.
• Kai Havertz (Muscle): Major Doubt. Arteta confirmed his absence in the press conference.
• Jurrien Timber (Ankle/Groin): Ruled Out. Arteta confirmed his absence in the press conference.
• Mikel Merino (Foot): Ruled Out Long-term. Still recovering from surgery; targeting a return for the final day of the season.

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟧🟩🟥🟧🟥

⚪ Fulham Team News:

• Ryan Sessegnon (Hamstring): Ruled Out. The match-winner from last week’s victory over Aston Villa is sidelined with a fresh muscle strain.
• Alex Iwobi (Hamstring): Ruled Out. The former Arsenal man will miss out on a return to the Emirates due to an injury sustained against Brentford.
• Kevin Santos (Metatarsal): Ruled Out. Still recovering from a broken foot; expected back in early June.
• Kenny Tete (Foot): Major Doubt. Will face a late fitness test tomorrow morning.

⚽ Fulham Form: 🟩🟧🟥🟩🟧

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• Fulham 0–1 Arsenal (Oct 18, 2025, Premier League)
• Arsenal 2–1 Fulham (Apr 1, 2025, Premier League)
• Fulham 1–1 Arsenal (Dec 8, 2024, Premier League)
• Fulham 2–1 Arsenal (Dec 31, 2023, Premier League)
• Arsenal 2–2 Fulham (Aug 26, 2023, Premier League)

📖 Match Facts:

• An Arsenal win tomorrow would put them six points clear of Manchester City, although City will have two games in hand.
• Fulham have never won a Premier League away game against Arsenal (D6, L11). Marco Silva stated today he is “determined to break that curse.”

📸 Previously in this fixture…

Arsenal went to Craven Cottage and returned with 3 points in November in a 0-1 win through a Trossard goal from a corner. We limited Fulham to 9 shots, none of which were on target, and we held 63% of the possession. Those were the days… I’m not sure I can stomach another close game. A few more goals would be nice tomorrow.

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

In our preantepenultimate (yes, that is a word) league game, we welcome Fulham to the Emirates in the antepenultimate (also a word) London derby in our season. It’s pretty wild that 3 of our 4 remaining league games are London derbies – we don’t have to leave the capital for the rest of the season unless we make it the the Champions League final.

Fulham find themselves right in the thick of the midtable scrap for the Europa League and Conference League positions being contested by a gaggle of clubs including Chelsea, Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, and a couple more. The Cottagers will be feeling happy at the timing of facing an Arsenal team struggling to find convincing wins. We’ve only won 2 of our last 8 games and both of those wins had us scoring only 1 goal. On the upside, Saka and Eze are back, and neither started midweek which points to both of the Englishmen starting against Fulham. Calafiori also made the bench midweek and didn’t see any minutes, so I would imagine the chance of him starting is lower than the returned attackers.

Fulham will be missing key players in Sessegnon at left back and ex-Arsenal Iwobi in midfield. Sessegnon scored the winner in Fulhams 1-0 victory over Aston Villa last week but was subbed off in the closing minutes of the game with a hamstring issue. For once Arsenal look to be able to field something close to their strongest lineup, with the only absences being Timber, Havertz, and Merino (and potentially Odegaard). Ben White looks to be past his best, and his time at Arsenal is almost certainly coming to a close. I would not at all be surprised to see a start for Mosquera.

With Man City not playing until Monday, a win tomorrow would see Arsenal go 6 points clear having played an extra two games. Points on the board are far more desirable than games in hand, and a trip to the Hill Dickinson hasn’t been easy this season. The run in, fixture wise, seems to favour us, but the form favours City. First step is to beat Fulham. Then it’s over to City.