Unai Emery’s Arsenal endured a nightmare trip to Anfield on Saturday. The Gunners took an early 1-0 lead only to be pegged back with five unanswered goals. Arsenal’s defensive frailties came to the forefront as the Reds sliced through the team.
Now, five points off of a Champions League place, Arsenal host second from bottom Fulham at the Emirates.
While Arsenal lost 5-1 to Liverpool, Fulham won in the dying seconds against Huddersfield thanks to an Aleksandar Mitrovic goal. Fulham have some personnel issues heading into the fixture as Aboubaker Kamara took a penalty prior to Mitrovic’s goal despite manager Claudio Ranieri screaming for him to leave it for the Serbian striker.
Kamara’s penalty was saved and Ranieri spoke of his anger in the post-match press conference. Fulham were later saved by Mitrovic, but the manager was left fuming.
Fulham have allowed the most goals in the league (43) while they have scored the fourth fewest strikes (18). The good news for Fulham is they have lost just twice in their last six matches. Ranieri has made the Cottagers more difficult to defeat. Fulham have allowed just one goal in their last three matches.
Arsenal’s defence has allowed 12 goals in their last six matches. Despite goals flying in against the Gunners, they have still gone unbeaten in four of those games. Arsenal have registered 42 goals with just under half of those strikes coming at the Emirates. The Gunners’ defence has been better at home than on the road allowing nine. Away from home Arsenal have given up 21 goals, the third most in the Premier League.
Fulham have failed to defeat Arsenal in their last five meetings. Four of those five games saw two or more goals scored. Arsenal have scored 14 goals against Fulham in their last five matches. In their previous game this term, Arsenal defeated Fulham 5-1 at Craven Cottage.
Fulham have failed to score in six of their last eight away league matches and despite Arsenal’s defensive problems, they could continue to be anemic on the road. Emery’s Arsenal have not been shy in front of goal as they have scored at least two goals in eight of their last 10 home matches against Fulham in all competitions.
Arsenal are leading sportsbooks’ favourite going into Tuesday’s match at the Emirates. Fulham’s attack has been poor and Arsenal will keep their first clean sheet in weeks. Emery will see his Gunners rebound from their loss at Anfield and revive their top four Champions League qualification hopes.